- The Bitfinex crypto hack resulted within the theft of 120,000 Bitcoin
- Ilya Lichtenstein used a collection of refined strategies to conceal the stolen funds between 2016 and 2022
- He instructed his spouse and co-conspirator concerning the hack in 2020 who then helped him to conceal the stolen property
US prosecutors have instructed a judge that the mastermind behind the Bitfinex alternate hack ought to obtain 5 years in jail.
Ilya Lichtenstein, who pleaded responsible final 12 months after stealing 120,000 Bitcoin, was arrested in 2022. His spouse and co-conspirator Heather Morgan was additionally taken into custody, in connection to the 2016 Bitfinex crypto hack. During their arrest, police seized Bitcoin value round $71 million on the time of the hack.
According to Bloomberg, a court docket submitting was submitted to the US District Court of Columbia, US prosecutors say Lichtenstein ought to obtain an extended sentence than Morgan, often known as rapper Razzlekhan.
Last week, federal prosecutors really useful that Morgan obtain an 18-month prison sentence given her “substantial assistance” within the case and the truth that she didn’t know her husband had hacked into Bitfinex.
Prosecutors argued {that a} stronger sentence for Lichtenstein would assist deter younger cybercriminals from making an attempt the identical factor. According to them, this on-line exercise is “normalized in a way that trivializes the impact on the victims.”
By giving a harder sentence, prosecutors consider it should “help to break this cycle.”
Sole accountability for the hack
While it was initially believed that each of them have been concerned within the alternate’s hack, Lichtenstein was recognized as the first individual accountable.
It was solely in 2020 that Morgan came upon about what her husband had accomplished and admitted to serving to him conceal the stolen crypto. Following the hack, Lichtenstein transferred round 120,000 Bitcoin right into a self-custody pockets beneath his management.
Over the subsequent few years, he withdrew 25,000 Bitcoin, laundering the stolen funds by way of darknet markets, non-compliant digital foreign money exchanges, and mixers and tumblers, together with Bitcoin Fog, Helix, and ChipMixer.
With Morgan’s assist, the pair used the stolen funds to purchase nonfungible tokens (NFTs), gold, and Walmart present playing cards.
Prosecutors haven’t pushed the judge to give Lichtenstein the utmost sentence due to his help in different prison instances. For occasion, in February, Lichtenstein testified as a authorities witness in a money-laundering trial in opposition to Bitcoin Fog.
The pair are scheduled to be sentenced in November.
