The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) has dropped its search for Alexander Vinnik on charges of large-scale fraud, TASS reported, citing law enforcement sources.

According to these sources, the decision was made due to the absence of any claims against Vinnik. His name has also been removed from the MVD database.

Since August 2017, Moscow investigators had been searching for Vinnik in connection with the alleged embezzlement of more than 600,000 rubles from an unnamed organization under the pretense of supplying equipment. The Ostankinsky Court had issued an arrest warrant for him in absentia.

In February 2025, Vinnik, who had been in a U.S. prison awaiting sentencing for laundering at least $4 billion through BTC-e, was exchanged for U.S. citizen Marc Fogel.

Vinnik was arrested in Greece in the summer of 2017. In 2020, he was extradited to France, where he was sentenced to five years in prison and fined €100,000. The charges of extortion and creating the Locky ransomware were dropped.

In August 2022, he was sent to the U.S., where he faced up to 55 years in prison. In May 2024, Vinnik pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money through a trading platform and was held responsible for losses amounting to at least $121 million.