Former Monero Dev Riccardo 'Fluffypony' Spagni To Be Extradited To South Africa

Riccardo Spagni, a former maintainer of privacy coin Monero XMR/USD, will soon be extradited to South Africa.

What Happened: A Thursday court order from the Middle District of Tennessee ordered Spagni to surrender to U.S. Marshals on July 5 for extradition.

Spagni faces a number of charges in South Africa but none of them are related to his role as a Monero developer.

Most of these charges pertain to a case of $100,000 worth of invoice fraud against his former employer Cape Cookies between 2009 and 2011 in South Africa.

Spagni fled the country to the U.S. in 2021 and remained at large until August when he was captured and arrested in Nashville.

I am very pleased that the U.S. 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

Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, XMR was trading at $115 at press time, down 2.17% over the last 24 hours. Bitcoin BTC/USD was trading at $20,316, recovering from a drop to $18,729 earlier in the day.

Photo via Cryptographer on Shutterstock