New Zealand police yesterday said they have seized US$90 million from Alexander Vinnik, a Russian bitcoin fraud suspect who is in French custody, but is also wanted in the US.
New Zealand Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said the police had worked closely with the US Internal Revenue Service in the case.
He said the money likely reflected illicit profits from thousands of victims.
Photo: AP
The money is the most ever seized by New Zealand police.
The US has accused Vinnik of laundering billions of dollars through BTC-e, one of the world’s largest digital currency exchanges.
His native Russia also wants to put him on trial.
Vinnik said he had acted as a technical consultant to the BTC-e platform and had no knowledge of any illegal activity.
Vinnik was arrested in the summer of 2017 while on a family holiday in northern Greece, at the request of US authorities.
After a two-year legal tug-of-war, Vinnik was extradited from Greece to France. French officials in January filed preliminary charges of money laundering and extortion against Vinnik.
He denies any wrongdoing and was on hunger strike for 35 days to protest his extradition to France.
He wanted to go to Russia instead, where he faces lesser charges.
Vinnik’s lawyer said her client was hospitalized upon arrival in France because of the hunger strike.
Greek authorities had ruled that Vinnik should be extradited first to France, then to the US and finally to Russia.
New Zealand police said they had restrained NZ$140 million (US$90.32 million) from Canton Business Corp and its owner, Vinnik, who were holding funds in a New Zealand company.
New Zealand prides itself on the ease of doing business and setting up companies, although it has sometimes been targeted by criminals from abroad, who create shell companies.
Coster said there was always a risk that New Zealand companies would be used in international money laundering.
“However, this restraint demonstrates that New Zealand is not, and will not be, a safe haven for the illicit proceeds generated from crime in other parts of the world,” Coster said in a statement.
New Zealand’s companies register shows that Vinnik owned a company called WME Capital Management from 2008 until 2012, although the register does not list him as a shareholder in any companies beyond that date.
New Zealand police froze the money, and plan to apply to the High Court to have the funds forfeited.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS