Marc Fogel Returns from Russian Prison

Colby Brooke

Last week, the United States and Russia engaged in a prisoner swap. American Schoolteacher Marc Fogel arrived home after being locked up for drug possession in August 2021.  

The drug possession on the part of Marc Fogel was a medically prescribed dosage of marijuana per Fogel’s Family. The Russian government has a strict policy about drugs and they gave Fogel a whopping 14 years for his possession.  

This is a harsh reality for people who have medically prescribed marijuana. If people choose to or decide to go to another country they must abide by that country's rules. According to GoodRx if people have a medically prescribed script for cannabis from the United States they are not allowed to travel with it internationally. 

The prisoner that Fogel was exchanged for was 45-year-old Alexander Vinnik a Russian man and an IT- specialist per Fortune. He was arrested in 2017 on the charge of fraud by the U.S. government.

Before he was caught and arrested he had been involved in the crypto currency trading platform: BTC-e. This platform allowed Vinnik and his cyber-criminal partners to launder $4 billion dollars from 2011 up until he was arrested in 2017.

Originally Vinnik was caught by Greek authorities on request of the United States government in 2017.

Then in 2020 Vinnik was extradited from Greece to France where the French authorities sentenced him to five years in prison. But before he could finish his five years in France the United States in 2022 brought him over here to convict him. The U.S. government was looking to charge Vinnik with upwards of 20 years in prison but due to postponements and delays he was set to be formally charged in June of this year.  

These two men both looking at close to two decades of prison time were sent back to their home countries. Where they will both most likely be living normal lives once again.

There is a stunning difference between these two men one is a schoolteacher who didn’t think what he was doing was wrong because what he was doing was legal in his home country.

The other man is a despicable person who has laundered billions in order to make himself and his people wealthier. And yet they are treated the same.

Vinnik should be sent to prison for decades and Fogel should be able to use a prescription that given to him by a medical physician.  

These two men’s crimes are vastly different one didn’t think he was doing anything wrong and one knew exactly what he was doing was wrong.  

Fogel was exchanged for a Russian prisoner Alexander Vinnik who was arrested for fraud charges. Now Vinnik gets a chance to go back to his home country for the first time since 2017.