A New York resident accused of being behind the 2016 hack that led to a loss of Bitcoins worth USD $4.5 billion on Bitfinex pleaded guilty
today (Thursday). Ilya Lichtenstein also pleaded guilty to laundering the stolen Bitcoins in a federal court in
Washington, D.C.
According to a report by
CNBC, Lichtenstein took the plea before his wife, Heather Rhiannon Morgan, who
was among the audience in the courtroom. Lichtenstein and Morgan were arrested
last year for allegedly laundering cryptocurrencies worth USD $4.5 billion
stolen from Bitfinex in 2016.
Lichtenstein, originally from Russia, has been under
police custody since his arrest. His wife and accomplice Morgan, an aspiring rapper also
known as ‘Razzlekahn’ or ‘The Crocodile of Wall Street’, was freed on a USD $3
million bond after her arrest.
Finance
Magnates reported two
weeks ago that the couple
will appear before
Senior Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelley in Washington, D.C. for a plea hearing for charges related to conspiracy to commit money laundering and defraud the United
States.
According to the
officials from the U.S. Department of Justice, Lichtenstein conspired with Morgan to launder
119,754 Bitcoins, then worth an
estimated USD $70 million, at the time Bitfinex was hacked. When
the duo was arrested, the DOJ seized 94,000 Bitcoins worth USD $3.6 billion,
the largest seizure in the Department’s history.
Complex Money Laundering Scheme
Earlier, the DOJ
explained that about 25,000 of the stolen Bitcoins were moved from
Lichtenstein’s digital wallet in a complicated money laundering process that
ended with some of the tokens being deposited in the couple’s accounts.
During the plea hearing,
it was discovered that Lichtenstein had converted some of the allegedly stolen
Bitcoins to gold coins, which Morgan had buried in a location now known to the law
enforcement agencies. Additionally, it was revealed that
Lichtenstein traveled to Ukraine and Kazakhstan to launder the stolen funds.
Meanwhile,
in May, a global network of investigative journalists claimed that Bitfinex
never made public a report alleging that the exchange experienced security
lapses that led to the hack. However, Bitfinex dismissed the Organized
Crime and Corruption Reporting Project’s (OCCRP) findings.
A New York resident accused of being behind the 2016 hack that led to a loss of Bitcoins worth USD $4.5 billion on Bitfinex pleaded guilty
today (Thursday). Ilya Lichtenstein also pleaded guilty to laundering the stolen Bitcoins in a federal court in
Washington, D.C.
According to a report by
CNBC, Lichtenstein took the plea before his wife, Heather Rhiannon Morgan, who
was among the audience in the courtroom. Lichtenstein and Morgan were arrested
last year for allegedly laundering cryptocurrencies worth USD $4.5 billion
stolen from Bitfinex in 2016.
Lichtenstein, originally from Russia, has been under
police custody since his arrest. His wife and accomplice Morgan, an aspiring rapper also
known as ‘Razzlekahn’ or ‘The Crocodile of Wall Street’, was freed on a USD $3
million bond after her arrest.
Finance
Magnates reported two
weeks ago that the couple
will appear before
Senior Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelley in Washington, D.C. for a plea hearing for charges related to conspiracy to commit money laundering and defraud the United
States.
According to the
officials from the U.S. Department of Justice, Lichtenstein conspired with Morgan to launder
119,754 Bitcoins, then worth an
estimated USD $70 million, at the time Bitfinex was hacked. When
the duo was arrested, the DOJ seized 94,000 Bitcoins worth USD $3.6 billion,
the largest seizure in the Department’s history.
Complex Money Laundering Scheme
Earlier, the DOJ
explained that about 25,000 of the stolen Bitcoins were moved from
Lichtenstein’s digital wallet in a complicated money laundering process that
ended with some of the tokens being deposited in the couple’s accounts.
During the plea hearing,
it was discovered that Lichtenstein had converted some of the allegedly stolen
Bitcoins to gold coins, which Morgan had buried in a location now known to the law
enforcement agencies. Additionally, it was revealed that
Lichtenstein traveled to Ukraine and Kazakhstan to launder the stolen funds.
Meanwhile,
in May, a global network of investigative journalists claimed that Bitfinex
never made public a report alleging that the exchange experienced security
lapses that led to the hack. However, Bitfinex dismissed the Organized
Crime and Corruption Reporting Project’s (OCCRP) findings.
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