Estonia extradites 2 citizens suspected of crypto fraud, money laundering to U.S

TALLINN. May 29 (Interfax) - Estonia has extradited its citizens Ivan Turogini and Sergei Potapenko, crypto businesspeople charged by the U.S. with fraud and conspiracy to launder illegal proceeds, to the United States.

"On May 28, the Police and Border Guard Board complied with the government's directive by transferring Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turogini, who were subject to extradition, to representatives of the United States of America," Ago Ambur, head of the Cybercrime Bureau of the Estonian National Criminal Police, told the Rus.ERR news website.

"The U.S. officials left Estonia along with the suspects early this morning," Ambur said.

The Estonian government's decision to extradite its citizens to the U.S. took legal effect on May 24, after all three judicial instances, including the Supreme Court, declined their appeals.

According to the indictment, Turogini and Potapenko devised a scheme to encourage people to invest in a cryptocurrency mining company called HashFlare, using the investments for purposes other than declared and not mining any cryptocurrency.

The potential losses of the company, which had hundreds of thousands of clients, amounted to over 500 million euros.