[4] In 2020, the London-based cryptocurrency analysis firm Elliptic claimed that BTC-e may have been used by Fancy Bear during the 2015–2016 Democratic National Committee cyber attacks.
[6] On July 25, 2017, Vinnik was arrested in Ouranoupoli, Greece[7] at the request of the U.S. on suspicion of laundering $4 billion through the digital currency bitcoin (BTC-e).
[16][17] In December 2020, Vinnik was acquitted on involvement with the Locky ransomware charges, but was sentenced to five years in prison for money laundering.
[19] On August 5, 2022, the United States Justice Department released a statement saying Vinnik's first appearance for the 21-count superseding indictment from January 2017 had been that morning at a federal court in California.
On February 12, 2025, the U.S. Government announced it was releasing Vinnik as part of an exchange with Russia for the imprisoned American schoolteacher Marc Fogel.