The defence of Alexander Vinnikov, a Russian national convicted in France, has demanded that charges of money laundering be dropped and \u20ac5 million in moral damages be paid.<\/p>\n
According to TASS<\/a>, lawyer Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Belo said the prosecution had provided no evidence of Vinnikov’s involvement in criminal activity.<\/p>\n He noted that the French authorities “are not attempting to hold the BTC-e exchange to account and rely solely on information from the US justice system, which baselessly labels the defendant as a co-founder of this platform”.<\/p>\n “The case concerns money laundering within a criminal group, but only one person sits on the defendant’s bench,” Belo noted.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The lawyer also stressed that the prosecution had not established that Vinnikov had access to the BTC-e management account.<\/p>\n The defence insists on dropping the charges and awarding Vinnikov \u20ac5 million in moral damages.<\/p>\n The French prosecutor’s office has asked to reduce the size of the fine, citing concerns that the amount may not be collectible from the Russian.<\/p>\n As reported earlier, a Paris court sentenced Vinnikov to five years in prison and a fine of \u20ac100,000<\/a>. The lawyers filed an appeal<\/a>, and also a lawsuit against the judges<\/a>, who made the decision to extradite the Russian to Paris.<\/p>\n\n