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Money laundering in Russia may include converting illicitly obtained bitcoin into fiat, after a drug dealer’s case led to a disagreement in the law from the nation’s Supreme Court. As reported by the Russia n Legal Information Agency (RAPSI), the Supreme Court of the Russia n Federation’s decision to overturn a defendant’s acquittal marks the first case of money laundering via Crypto currency.  The defendant was initially arrested after reportedly storing large quantities of drug precursors and producing mephedrone on a large scale. He sold drugs for bitcoin and converted his crypto into 8 million rubles ($91,000) in total, and sent the funds to his roommate’s daughter’s bank accounts. In his initial court case, the defendant was found guilty of drug trafficking but was acquitted on charges of money laundering. The court decided that since the bitcoin never ‘entered circulation,’ the money laundering charge couldn’t stick. Prose...

The detention of a United States journalist in Russia has sparked a renewed push from Alexander Vinnik, the co-founder of BTC-e, for a possible “prisoner swap” deal. Alexander Vinnik, the Russian co-founder of an allegedly illicit crypto exchange, BTC-e, is seeking release by way of a deal known as a “ prison er swap.”  According to a May 24 report in The Wall Street Journal, Vinnik’s lawyer is attempting to alter a protective order on Vinnik’s case so that he could be considered as part of a prisoner trade deal between Russia and the United States. This could see him “swapped” for detained WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich. “Mr. Vinnik should be permitted to … answer the accusations against him and advocate publicly for his inclusion in a prison er swap,” wrote David Rizk, an assistant federal defender in the Northern District of California. Citing sources familiar with the prison er-swap process, Rizk explained that such negotiations require a strong public campaign to “maximize the cha...