French prosecutors have asked for alleged Bitcoin fraudster Alexander Vinnik to be given a 10-year jail term and a $888,634 fine.
The Russian, 41, who is also wanted in the US and Russia, is facing charges in France of extortion, money laundering and criminal association.
Paris prosecutor Johanna Brousse requested that Mr Vinnik remain in jail.
Attacks on French businesses and organisations between 2016 and 2018 led to 20 victims paying ransom demands issued in Bitcoin through BTC-e, one of the world’s largest digital currency exchanges.
French prosecutors said Mr Vinnik was one of the creators of the malicious software called “Locky”, which was delivered through email.
If downloaded, the recipient’s data was encrypted and they were asked to pay ransom in Bitcoin to free it.
During an often tense week of court hearings in Paris, Mr Vinnik’s main line of defence was that he was only a technical operator carrying out the instructions of BTC-e directors.
An investigator with the international police organisation Interpol told the court that with the help of the US, which provided data from BTC-e, it appeared that most of the ransom payments were sent to an account that was linked to Mr Vinnik.
His lawyer, Zoe Konstantopoulou, accused French prosecutors of being “ill-intentioned".
“There was no French investigation. The Americans said: It’s Vinnik' and said, ‘make sure he is being transferred to the US',” Ms Konstantopoulou told the court.
Mr Vinnik, speaking in Russian, said: “I am not guilty, I don’t have any relation with ‘Locky’.”
He said the investigation had been “botched” and that his rights were not being respected.
“The Americans handed over questionable documents to France,” Mr Vinnik said.
The verdict will come at a later date.
Mr Vinnik was arrested in the summer of 2017 while on a family holiday in northern Greece, at the request of US authorities.
France, Russia and the United States asked Greece this year to extradite him to France, so that he would be within the legal borders of the EU.
He went on a hunger strike for 100 days while detained in Greece.
