Bitcoin Laundering Couple Reach Plea Agreement with U.S. Authorities
Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, implicated in laundering billions of dollars' worth of Bitcoin from the 2016 Bitfinex hack, have reached a plea agreement with U.S. authorities. The couple is scheduled for an arraignment and hearing on August 3, as per records filed on July 21 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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The criminal activities trace back to the infamous Bitfinex hack in August 2016, during which approximately 119,754 Bitcoin (BTC) worth $29,841 each at that time were stolen. Lichtenstein and Morgan allegedly engaged in complex transactions across multiple accounts and platforms, laundering over 94,643 BTC of the stolen funds. In February 2022, the authorities arrested the couple in New York and seized the BTC.
Originally valued at $54 million during the hack, the confiscated Bitcoin's value has surged to a staggering $3.6 billion at the time of this publication. The arrests and subsequent seizure marked the largest financial seizure ever conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice. While some portions of BTC linked to the hack have been occasionally traced and moved, only a limited amount has been returned to Bitfinex to aid in compensating the victims' funds.
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