French investigators have not questioned Russian national Alexander Vinnik, who was arrested in Greece on fraud charges, due to lack of evidence, and the interview has now been rescheduled for November 6, Vinnik's lawyer Timofey Musatov told Sputnik on Monday.
ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2018) French investigators have not questioned Russian national Alexander Vinnik, who was arrested in Greece on fraud charges, due to lack of evidence, and the interview has now been rescheduled for November 6, Vinnik's lawyer Timofey Musatov told Sputnik on Monday.
Vinnik was detained in Greece in July 2017 at the request of the US authorities on various charges, including laundering $4 billion through bitcoin cryptocurrency exchange BTC-E, allegedly headed by Vinnik. France is trying to get Vinnik extradited as well, accusing him of hacking email accounts of thousands of people and extortion. According to the allegations of the French side, Vinnik committed his crimes while in Greek prison.
"The lawyers demanded evidence supporting criminal charges and the allegations themselves against Alexander Vinnik that were not in the files of the request in Greece. Because of this, the interview did not take place and was rescheduled for November 6, 2018," Musatov said.
According to the lawyer, the interview was meant to put psychological pressure on Vinnik and obtain proof of his guilt by any means possible. The investigators appeared to be basing their case on falsified information, the lawyer said.
"According to the defense, the case against Alexander Vinnik was made up," the lawyer said.
Meanwhile, the BTC-E exchange has said that the Russian national had never been engaged in its activities. The suspect himself has denied the US accusations.
In Russia, Vinnik is wanted for separate fraud charges, but he has denied some of the allegations.
