On February 9, the American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C., the Washington Nationals, announced the team has partnered with Terra, the open-source blockchain platform and decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). The Washington Nationals detail that the team is a “leading innovator” and is “consistently introducing new technologies to enhance the fan experience.” Washington Nationals Ink Long-Term Deal With Terra Major League Baseball (MLB) team the Washington Nationals has partnered with the blockchain platform and DAO Terra, according to an announcement published by the team on Wednesday. The deal with Terra follows a slew of sports-related deals with crypto firms, but the MLB team will be the first to partner with an open-source blockchain project. In addition to the partnership, the algorithmic stablecoin UST that’s issued on the Terra blockchain will be “accepted as a payment method at Nationals Park as early as next season.” “The Nationals continue t...
Vinnik’s lawyers fear Greek authorities will want him to face additional charges after the sentence.
A court of appeals in Paris has upheld the five-year prison term in the case against BTC-e operator Alexander Vinnik.
The court upheld a December 2020 verdict and prison sentence, finding that Vinnik/BTC-e had committed money laundering as part of an organized criminal group, and provided false information about the origin of the proceeds.
The Parisian court dismissed several requests from Vinnik's defense team, including asking to examine copies of the evidence provided by the FBI. The court also exempted Vinnik from a fine of 100,000 Euros which originally accompanied the December sentence.
Vinnik was originally charged with defrauding nearly 200 people using ransomware, but the court cleared him of the malware attack charges in December. The prosecution service had asked for a smaller fine, expressing doubts that he would be able to pay out the victims of his crimes, according to Russian state news outlet TAAS.
The defense team plans to file a cassation appeal within five days as required by French law.
The Russian computer specialist was originally detained while vacationing in Greece during July 2017 at the request of the United States. He is accused by the U.S. of laundering more than $4 billion while operating the now-defunct crypto exchange BTC-e.
In January 2020, Vinnik was extradited to France, where he was sentenced to five years in prison in December. Vinnik’s lawyer, Frédéric Bélot, fears that Greek authorities may want him returned to Greece after the sentence to face extradition to the United States on similar charges.
Russia has also filed an extradition request citing humanitarian grounds. After Vinnik went on hunger strike in Greece in November 2018, Russian human rights ombudswoman, Tatiana Moskalkova, sought the assistance of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to vouch for Vinnik to be returned to Russia. At the time, she emphasized the deteriorating health of both Vinnik and his wife, who had been diagnosed with brain cancer.
Related: BTC-e’s Vinnik Case Drags on as New Accusations Continue Emerging
However, it has been reported that Russia’s extradition request may be motivated by preventing sensitive data regarding its intelligence operations from falling into the hands of foreign adversaries, with some analysts suggesting Russian intelligence agencies may have used BTC-e to acquire Bitcoin for classified operations.
If extradited, Vinnik would face the lighter charges of “fraud in the field of computer information” in Russia.
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