Riccardo Spagni, who was the maintainer of the privacy coin Monero, faces extradition to South Africa months after his arrest by US authorities.
In a Thursday court filing for the Middle District of Tennessee, Magistrate Judge Alistair Newbern ordered Spagni to surrender to US Marshals on July 5 for later extradition to South Africa. He will reportedly face 378 charges related to fraud and forgery allegations between 2009 and 2011 at a company called Cape Cookies.
US authorities detained Spagni in Nashville in July 2021 at the request of the South African government, holding him in custody until September. Court records hint that Spagni may be in the United States over Independence Day weekend before being flown to Africa early Tuesday. None of the charges in South Africa are related to Spagni’s time working on Monero (XMR), for which he was the main maintainer until December 2019.
Spagni, who posts on Twitter under the name “Fluffypony,” has been involved in the cryptocurrency space since mid-2011. Since his arrest in the United States, he tweeted his desire to return to South Africa to “address this matter” related to fraud charges:
I am very pleased that the US court has released me. I am actively working with my attorneys on a way to return to South Africa as soon as possible so I can address this matter and get it behind me once and for all. That’s what I’ve always wanted to do.
— fluffy/pony (@fluffypony) September 21, 2021
I am pleased to announce that the American court has released me. I am actively working with my lawyers on a way to get back to South Africa as soon as possible so that I can address this matter and put it behind me once and for all. That’s what I’ve always wanted to do.
According to data from Cointelegraph Markets, the price of XMR has fallen by approximately 8% in the last 24 hours, reaching $110 at press time. Like many cryptocurrencies in the current bear market, the price of the well-known privacy coin has fallen significantly in the last 30 days, roughly 46% from the more than $206 it was trading at on May 31.
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