By Nermeen Nabil Khear 
President Donald Trump authorized a high-stakes prisoner swap, exchanging Russian cybercriminal Alexander Vinnik for American teacher Marc Fogel, according to a report from The Post on Wednesday.
The deal, finalized in the past few days, secured Fogel’s release after more than three years in a Russian prison while Vinnik, who laundered $9 billion in crypto, was returned to Moscow.
The swap took place without prior public notice. Fogel arrived back in the US on Tuesday night, stepping on American soil for the first time since his 2021 arrest in Russia on drug charges.
Vinnik’s crypto empire and his road to extradition
Vinnik was first arrested in Greece in 2017 at the request of US authorities. The Russian ran BTC-e, an infamous crypto exchange that processed more than $9 billion in transactions of funds linked to cybercrime, hacks, and dark web markets.
The US accused him of facilitating large-scale money laundering operations and failing to register BTC-e as a money services business despite serving American customers. After years of legal battles over his extradition, Vinnik was sent to France, where he was convicted of money laundering in 2020 and sentenced to five years in prison.
In 2022, Vinnik was extradited to the US and faced charges in San Francisco, where he pleaded guilty in May 2024 to conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was awaiting sentencing when the Trump administration approved his transfer back to Russia.
According to the Post, White House official justified the swap, saying, “We view this as a very fair deal. We are not trading the Merchant of Death for a basketball player,” referring to Biden’s 2022 decision to exchange convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout for WNBA star Brittney Griner. “Vinnick is currently in custody in Northern California, awaiting transportation back to Russia.”
Fogel lands in US, credits Trump for release
Meanwhile, Fogel had been teaching at the Anglo-American School in Moscow when he was arrested in August 2021 for carrying medical marijuana. Russian authorities charged him with drug smuggling, sentencing him to 14 years in prison.
The US State Department classified him as “wrongfully detained,” but negotiations under the Biden administration failed to secure his release.
His freedom came under Trump. Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, said he got a call on Tuesday confirming the deal was finalized. “I was instructed by President Trump to get him back to the US immediately,” Witkoff told reporters at the White House. “Without President Trump’s election, none of this would’ve happened.”
Fogel arrived at a US military base Tuesday night, where he was seen kissing the ground. “I want you to know that I am not a hero in this at all. And President Trump is a hero,” he said.
Trump personally welcomed Fogel to the White House and gave him a private tour of the Lincoln Bedroom. Saudi Arabia reportedly played a role in brokering the deal, though details on their involvement remain undisclosed.
More US-Russia negotiations underway
Trump hinted that another American could be released as soon as Wednesday, though he did not provide a name. One of the Americans still in Russian custody is 72-year-old Stephen Hubbard, who was accused of fighting against Russian forces alongside Ukrainian mercenaries.
Beyond prisoner exchanges, Trump is moving fast on US-Russia relations. Earlier today, he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine. Unlike the Biden administration, which followed a policy of “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,” Trump prioritized direct talks with Moscow before reaching out to Kyiv.
“We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskiy of Ukraine to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now,” Trump posted on his Truth Social.
He described the call with Putin as “lengthy and highly productive,” saying the two leaders discussed Ukraine, energy, artificial intelligence, and the dominance of the US dollar. “We agreed on the pressing need to stop the killing in Ukraine,” Trump said.
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This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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