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On November 14, a US court sentenced Ilya Lichtenstein to five years in prison for laundering money obtained as a result of the 2016 Bitfinex hack.
Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan were arrested in February 2022 on suspicion of involvement in the attack on the exchange. At that time, 94,643 BTC (about $3.6 billion at the time) of the 119,754 BTC stolen were seized from the couple.
In August 2023, both pleaded guilty to money laundering, but Lichtenstein did not admit his role in the hack. Under the charges brought against him, he faced up to 20 years in prison, and Morgan - up to 10.
In addition to five years in prison, the convicted man was given three years probation. Morgan will be sentenced on November 18. Prosecutors proposed a sentence of 18 months in prison for her.
According to court documents, the criminals managed to launder approximately 25,000 BTC ($2.2 billion). To do this, they used “advanced methods,” including using fake identities to create accounts and software to automate transactions. The stolen bitcoins were transferred through darknet marketplaces and crypto exchanges, and then converted into other digital assets and passed through mixers. Some of the funds were exchanged for gold coins.
However, according to “white hat hacker” and cybersecurity expert Brett Johnson, Lichtenstein made many mistakes.
The defendant carried out complex procedures and converted funds into different cryptocurrencies multiple times, but his real name always appeared when withdrawing to fiat. In addition, Liechtenstein used Coinbase accounts directly linked to him.
Recall that in October, US authorities named Bitfinex as the sole claimant for damages from the hack.
www.justice.gov
Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan were arrested in February 2022 on suspicion of involvement in the attack on the exchange. At that time, 94,643 BTC (about $3.6 billion at the time) of the 119,754 BTC stolen were seized from the couple.
In August 2023, both pleaded guilty to money laundering, but Lichtenstein did not admit his role in the hack. Under the charges brought against him, he faced up to 20 years in prison, and Morgan - up to 10.
In addition to five years in prison, the convicted man was given three years probation. Morgan will be sentenced on November 18. Prosecutors proposed a sentence of 18 months in prison for her.
According to court documents, the criminals managed to launder approximately 25,000 BTC ($2.2 billion). To do this, they used “advanced methods,” including using fake identities to create accounts and software to automate transactions. The stolen bitcoins were transferred through darknet marketplaces and crypto exchanges, and then converted into other digital assets and passed through mixers. Some of the funds were exchanged for gold coins.
However, according to “white hat hacker” and cybersecurity expert Brett Johnson, Lichtenstein made many mistakes.
| “If you look at how he tried to launder money, everything was done absolutely wrong,” the specialist commented. |
| "What it really looks like is this guy knows how to launder money in theory, but in practice he's never done it," Johnson added. |
Bitfinex Hacker Sentenced in Money Laundering Conspiracy Involving Billions in Stolen Cryptocurrency
Ilya Lichtenstein was sentenced today to five years in prison for his involvement in a money laundering conspiracy arising from the hack and theft of approximately 120,000 bitcoin from Bitfinex, a global cryptocurrency exchange.