The Court of Appeals of Paris on Thursday ruled to uphold Russian citizen Alexander Vinnik's five-year prison sentence for money laundering, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the courtroom
PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th June, 2021) The Court of Appeals of Paris on Thursday ruled to uphold Russian citizen Alexander Vinnik's five-year prison sentence for money laundering, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the courtroom.
The decision was scheduled to be announced at 9 a.m. local time (07:00 GMT), but had to be postponed for over three hours as the defendant was not brought to the court in time. According to the lawyers, the prison was allegedly unaware that Vinnik was to be escorted to the courtroom even though the court had issued a corresponding order.
The court also dismissed several requests from Vinnik's defense team, including for examination of the copies of the evidence that was provided by the FBI.
Vinnik was detained in Greece in 2017 at the request of the United States, which has accused him of laundering $4 billion worth of funds through the cryptocurrency trading platform. France also filed charges against Vinnik, however, his lawyer claimed that it was only a ploy to have him extradited to the United States. Russia has submitted a separate extradition request. On January 23, 2020, Vinnik was extradited to France, where he was sentenced to five years in prison and a 100,000-euro ($119,433) fine last December. Vinnik has denied committing any criminal or administrative offenses.
