Lithuanian businessman Vilhelm German has achieved two favorable outcomes in the Foxpay investigation. Prosecutors have terminated money laundering and bribery suspicions against him after determining insufficient evidence remained, while a Vilnius court returned a separate €23 million cryptocurrency mining case to prosecutors due to procedural deficiencies.
Laundering and Bribery Suspicions Dropped
Prosecutors formally abandoned suspicions under Criminal Code Articles 216(1) and 227(3), concerning money laundering and bribery respectively. The decision concluded that evidence gathered was insufficient to substantiate guilt and that opportunities to collect additional evidence on those allegations had been exhausted.
German was never indicted on the laundering or bribery allegations. The wider Foxpay investigation previously involved allegations that at least €17 million had been laundered between 2023 and 2024, alongside approximately €100,000 in alleged bribes. Seven individuals were identified as suspects in April 2026.
Court Identifies Prosecutorial Failures in Mining Case
On September 16, the Vilnius City District Court returned the cryptocurrency mining case to the Prosecutor General's Office, identifying two significant procedural deficiencies. First, most case materials had been translated into Lithuanian using eTranslation, an automated service operated by the European Commission. Lithuanian criminal procedure does not provide for automated translations of criminal case materials into the state language, rendering the translations improper.
Second, key witnesses had not been questioned during the pre-trial investigation. The court determined that prosecutors could not shift this responsibility onto the judiciary. German and his defense had previously challenged the clarity of the suspicions and the comprehensibility of the translated materials.
Six-Month Deadline for Prosecutors
Prosecutors now have six months to remedy the identified deficiencies before resubmitting the mining case proceedings. The case concerns allegations that German and three other individuals fraudulently acquired cryptocurrency mining equipment valued at more than €23 million. Prosecutors brought the indictment in April 2026, though German has consistently denied wrongdoing and characterized the allegations as a commercial dispute subject to arbitration.
All four defendants remain presumed innocent. The court's decision to return the case does not constitute an acquittal. For German, the termination of the separate laundering and bribery suspicions removes two allegations from his legal situation, while the procedural ruling places responsibility on prosecutors to address identified deficiencies.
