PARIS, June 24./TASS/. The Court of Appeal of Paris has upheld the five-year prison term for Russian Alexander Vinnik, convicted in France on money laundry charges, TASS reported from the courtroom earlier on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the court exempted him from a fine of 100,000 euros. The prosecution service earlier asked for a smaller fine, expressing doubts that Vinnik would be able to pay it to the injured parties.

Alexander Vinnik, a Russian IT specialist, was detained while vacationing in Greece on July 25, 2017 at the United States’ request, where he is accused of laundering four to nine billion US dollars through a no longer existent Internet exchange of cryptocurrencies BTC-e. On January 23, he was extradited to France. The final decision was made by Greece’s State Council, or the Supreme Court of Greece. Vinnik’s extradition was also sought by Russia and the United States.

Vinnik himself said back in Greece that he wanted to return to his homeland and appear before a Russian court.