WASHINGTON -- The United States is releasing a confessed Russian cybercriminal as part of a deal with the Kremlin that set American teacher Marc Fogel free, reports said.
Aleksandr Vinnik, known as Mr. Bitcoin, was expected to be released from a California jail on February 12, multiple U.S. outlets reported, citing unnamed White House officials.
The reports came a day after President Donald Trump welcomed Fogel back to the United States after 3 ½ years in a Russian prison on marijuana possession charges. The White House said it expected another American citizen to be released on February 12 but did not elaborate on the person’s identity or whether they were in a Russian prison.
Trump added that Fogel's release was based on a "very fair" deal and was an indication of Russia's "good will in terms of the war" in Ukraine.
"I think this could be a very important element, a big part of getting the war over," Trump told reporters at the White House as he stood next to Fogel, who was draped in an American flag.
"I feel like the luckiest man on Earth right now," Fogel said. "I want you to know I am not a hero in this at all. President Trump is a hero. These men who came over from the diplomatic service are heroes," Fogel said. "I love our country and I’m happy to be back here."
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Moscow Swaps American Journalists, Top Dissidents For Convicted Criminals
Emergency Hearing
Vinnik was arrested in 2017 on a Greek beach at Washington’s request and eventually extradited to the United States in 2022.
He pleaded guilty last year to operating a digital-currency website used by cybercriminals worldwide to launder money and was scheduled to be sentenced by California Judge Susan Illston in June.
As first reported by RFE/RL, Illston held an unscheduled hearing via videoconference on February 11 with Vinnik and his lawyers less than an hour after the White House announced Fogel’s release.
When contacted by RFE/RL, Arkady Bukh, one of Vinnik’s lawyers, said he couldn't comment on the hearing as the judge ordered the proceedings to be sealed. The court did not respond to RFE/RL requests for comment.
Vinnik has been held by Western authorities for almost eight years. Russian cybercriminals who plead guilty in the United States rarely receive more than a 10-year sentence, an RFE/RL investigation of more than a dozen recent cases showed, implying that Vinnik may have only received a sentence of time served at his June hearing.
Fogel had been sentenced to 14 years in a Russian jail after being detained by Russian police in 2021 for possession of medical marijuana he says was prescribed to him after back surgery.
He is one of several Americans who have been arrested in Russia in recent years and handed long sentences on spurious charges.
The United States has referred to many of the American prisoners as “hostages,” saying some of them appeared to have been set up by Russian law enforcement. Washington has accused the Kremlin of targeting Americans in an attempt to secure the release of important Russian citizens jailed in the West on charges of murder, hacking, and arms dealing.
The United States and Russia carried our a few prisoner swaps during the administration of former President Joe Biden, but Fogel, who taught at the Anglo-American School in the Russian capital, had been passed over in each of them.
In December 2022, Russia released WNBA star Brittney Griner in exchange for international arms dealer Viktor Bout while former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed was traded for drug trafficker Konstantin Yaroshchenko in April of that year.
A much larger exchange took place in August 2024, when Russia freed 16 people, including RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan. Eight Russians were returned home in that exchange, the largest prisoner swap since the end of the Cold War.
Fogel’s 95-year-old mother met Trump at a July campaign rally in Pennsylvania to plead for his release amid frustration with the Biden administration.
During his confirmation hearing last month, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said improving U.S.-Russian relations would be impossible unless Fogel were freed.
The release of Fogel “is at the minimum the kind of thing you would hope to see of anyone who is serious about improving relations, especially if we can get the situation in Ukraine to a peaceful standing," Rubio said in the hearing, calling the case against him “ridiculous.”
Rubio said in a statement on February 11 that Trump had promised Fogel's family he would "bring Marc home." He added that Fogel's release "is also a reminder that other American citizens are still detained in Russia" and said Trump is committed to bringing all of them home.
In addition to Fogel, those deals left several other Americans behind and locked up in Russian jails, including musician Michael Travis Leake, U.S. Army staff sergeant Gordon Black, and Russian-American ballerina Ksenia Karelina.