Lithuanian Crypto Entrepreneur Scores Legal Win as Suspicions Dropped

German’s Defense Gains Ground as Prosecutors’ €23 Million Crypto Case Hits Snag

According to regional reporting, Vilhelm German has emerged from two developments in Lithuania’s Foxpay investigation with his legal position strengthened. Prosecutors have abandoned money laundering and bribery suspicions against the businessman, citing insufficient evidence, while a separate €23 million cryptocurrency mining case has been returned to prosecutors over procedural failures.

The court’s findings validated objections raised by German and his defense, including the improper use of machine translations and the failure to question key witnesses. Prosecutors now face a six-month deadline to correct those deficiencies before the mining case can proceed.

Prosecutors Drop Suspicions After Exhausting Investigative Avenues

The decision to terminate the laundering and bribery investigation marks a significant development for German. The prosecutor’s decision concludes that the evidence gathered was insufficient to substantiate German’s guilt and that opportunities to collect additional evidence concerning those allegations had been exhausted.

Accordingly, prosecutors terminated the suspicions under Criminal Code Articles 216(1) and 227(3), concerning money laundering and bribery, respectively. 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.

German was never indicted on the laundering or bribery allegations. The decision formally closes those particular suspicions against him, although it does not terminate the wider Foxpay investigation.

Court Backs Defense Objections, Flags Two Significant Prosecutorial Failures

German’s defense secured another favorable development on Sept. 16, when the Vilnius City District Court returned the separate cryptocurrency mining case to the Prosecutor General’s Office. The court identified two procedural deficiencies that prosecutors must correct.

First, most of the case material had been translated into Lithuanian using eTranslation, an automated service operated by the European Commission. Lithuanian criminal procedure does not provide for translating criminal case materials into the state language through such automated means, rendering the translations improper.

Second, key witnesses had not been questioned during the pre-trial investigation. The court determined that prosecutors couldn’t simply shift that responsibility onto the judiciary. German and his defense had previously challenged the clarity of the suspicions and the comprehensibility of the translated materials. The court’s decision to return the case upheld the substance of those procedural objections.

Prosecutors now have six months to remedy the deficiencies before resubmitting the proceedings.

German Maintains Innocence as €23 Million Case Returns to Prosecutors

The crypto mining case, separated from the wider Foxpay investigation in December 2025, 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, but German has consistently denied wrongdoing, characterizing the allegations as a commercial dispute already subject to arbitration. He has maintained that he intends to establish his innocence in court.

All four defendants remain presumed innocent, and the court’s decision to return the mining case does not constitute an acquittal. For German, the termination of the separate laundering and bribery suspicions removes two allegations from his legal troubles, while the court’s procedural findings place the burden squarely on prosecutors to repair their mining case.

After challenging the prosecution’s handling of the evidence, his defense now has a ruling requiring those deficiencies to be addressed before proceedings can resume.