According to CryptoPotato, an Estonian Circuit Court overturned a previous ruling allowing the extradition of two Estonian citizens accused of cryptocurrency fraud and money laundering to the United States. The court said that the Estonian government did not take certain circumstances into account before agreeing to extradite the individuals involved in the case. The new court ruling canceled the extradition approval. Ivan Turogin and Sergei Potapenko, who operate a virtual currency mining business called HashFlare, received approval for an appeal to block extradition to the United States. The Tallinn Circuit Court revoked the extradition because the government did not conduct an investigation and did not verify the conditions of the US detention facilities. In November 2022, Turogin and Potapenko were arrested in Estonia for allegedly operating a fraudulent crypto service that caused users to lose $575 million. According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the two allegedly asked victims to purchase mining contracts for HashFlare's equipment and urged them to invest in a crypto bank called Polybius, which promised to pay dividends to investors. However, the investigation found that the mining contracts were fake, and Polybius was not a bank and did not pay any dividends. Instead, the DOJ said that Turogin and Potapenko defrauded "hundreds of thousands of victims" through a Ponzi scheme between 2015 and 2019. In addition, the two also laundered the illegally obtained funds through shell companies to buy luxury cars and real estate. After arresting the HashFlare co-founder, the US government sought to extradite the Estonian citizen to the United States. However, the latest development may prevent the transfer from happening. In the meantime, the Circuit Court fined the Estonian government 46,365.30 euros (50,809.65 US dollars) and 50,710 euros (55,531 US dollars) to cover the costs of Turogin and Potapenko. In addition, the families of Turogin and Potapenko will receive 4,080 euros (about 4,500 US dollars) and 3,000 euros (about 330 US dollars) in compensation, respectively. The circuit court’s decision can be appealed until December 11, 2023.