Two Russian citizens fined for cashing out stolen cryptocurrency in Vilnius

VILNIUS - Two Russian citizens have been convicted of cashing out cryptocurrency in Vilnius, stolen from another Russian citizen, Lithuania's Prosecutor General's Office said on Friday.

Vilnius Regional Court found the two Kaliningrad residents guilty of money laundering and issued them with fines of 24,500 euros each.

The court also took into account the fact that both men spent nine months in custody since their arrest in February and until the verdict was issued, and as each detention day was deemed equivalent to 100 euros, the court found both foreigners as having served their sentences.

The court heard that, in February, the two individuals jointly withdrew more than 29,800 euros from a virtual wallet at a cryptocurrency exchange operating in Vilnius and they split the money in half.

The investigation was carried out upon receipt of information from cryptocurrency exchange staff that two Russian citizens had withdrawn money that could be illegally obtained. It was later determined that the money transferred to the virtual wallet belonged to a person living in Russia who had been kidnapped.