Estonia Renews U.S. Extradition of Crypto Businessmen Accused of $575 Million Ponzi Scheme: Report
The Estonian government has decided to renew the United States extradition of two alleged fraudsters accused of running a $575 million scheme, Estonian Public Broadcasting reports.
The extradition’s approval reverses an earlier decision made by the Tallinn Circuit Court in November to block the extradition, citing “procedural irregularities” and “conditions of detention in the United States.”
However, Estonian Minister of Justice Kent Lalle stated the court “verified” that the conditions of the accused perpetrators’ upcoming detention facility in the U.S. were “humane” and “lawful.”
“The government concluded that the extradition of the citizens to the U.S. is justified in accordance with the rule of law and does not disproportionately affect the rights of the citizens,” Lalle said.
News of the extradition comes just over a year after Estonian citizens Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin were arrested for orchestrating the more than half-billion dollar fraud. U.S. prosecutors allege the duo lured victims to invest in crypto mining firm, Hashflare, and digital asset bank, Polybius Bank, before laundering funds into shell companies in order to “purchase real estate and luxury cars.”
“The size and scope of the alleged scheme is truly astounding,” U.S. Attorney Nick Brown of the Western District of Washington stated in a November 2022 press release.
“They lured investors with false representations and then paid early investors off with money from those who invested later,” Brown continued.
“They tried to hide their ill-gotten gain in Estonian properties, luxury cars, bank accounts, and virtual currency wallets around the world.”
U.S. Attorneys allege that Hashflare itself was a sham, performing “Bitcoin mining at a rate of less than
