US Hacker Sentenced To Five-Year For Laundering $4.5B In Cryptocurrency Theft

A hacker has been sentenced to five years in prison in the US for laundering proceeds from one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in history.

Ilya Lichtenstein pleaded guilty last year to his involvement in the 2016 hack of the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange, where nearly 120,000 bitcoin were stolen.

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At the time of the theft, the bitcoin was valued at around $70 million, but by the time Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan were arrested, its value had surged to over $4.5 billion—more than double that amount today.

Lichtenstein worked with Morgan, who used the alias “Razzlekhan” to promote her hip hop music while helping him launder the stolen funds.

The couple employed various sophisticated methods, including using fictitious identities, converting the stolen bitcoin into other cryptocurrencies, and purchasing gold coins.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) reported that $3.6 billion of the stolen assets were recovered—marking the largest financial seizure in DOJ history.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco emphasized the importance of sending a strong message that such crimes carry serious consequences. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly reinforced this point, stating, “There are consequences to these crimes.”