Greek top court clears extradition of Russian bitcoin fraud suspect to U.S.

ATHENS, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Greece's Supreme Court upheld on Wednesday the ruling reached by a lower court in October to extradite a Russian cybercrime suspect to the United States where he is wanted in a 4 billion-U.S. dollar bitcoin fraud case, Greek national news agency AMNA reported.

Alexander Vinnik, 38, was arrested while on vacation in northern Greece in July on an international warrant.

U.S. authorities accuse him of managing a platform, through which he laundered gains from criminal activities.

The Russian national has denied the charges and asked not to be extradited to the United States.

Following Wednesday's verdict, the final decision on his extradition to the U.S. or Russia rests with Greece's Justice Minister Stavros Kontonis.

After Vinnik's arrest in Greece, Russian authorities have also submitted a request for his extradition to his home country where he is wanted in another less serious 10,000 euros (11,746 U.S. dollars) fraud case. Enditem