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Cryptocurrency Laundering Scheme Unraveled in Manhattan
Two individuals, Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and his wife, Heather Morgan, 31, both of New York, New York, were arrested on February 8, 2023, for an alleged conspiracy to launder cryptocurrency stolen from Bitfinex, a virtual currency exchange, in 2016.
The stolen funds, valued at approximately $4.5 billion, were laundered through a complex money laundering process that involved the use of fictitious identities, computer programs to automate transactions, and the conversion of bitcoin to other forms of virtual currency.
According to court documents, Lichtenstein and Morgan allegedly conspired to launder the proceeds of 119,754 bitcoin that were stolen from Bitfinex’s platform after a hacker breached Bitfinex’s systems and initiated more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions.
Over the last five years, approximately 25,000 of those stolen bitcoin were transferred out of Lichtenstein’s wallet via the money laundering process, with the remainder of the stolen funds, comprising more than 94,000 bitcoin, remaining in the wallet used to receive and store the illegal proceeds from the hack.
Law enforcement officials seized over $3.6 billion in cryptocurrency linked to the hack, with the recovered bitcoin being valued at over $3.6 billion at the time of seizure.
The criminal complaint alleges that Lichtenstein and Morgan employed numerous sophisticated laundering techniques, including using fictitious identities to set up online accounts, utilizing computer programs to automate transactions, and depositing the stolen funds into accounts at a variety of virtual currency exchanges and darknet markets.
Lichtenstein and Morgan are scheduled to make their initial appearances in federal court on February 8, 2023, at 3:00 p.m. in Manhattan.
The case highlights the growing threat of cryptocurrency heists and the importance of using 21st-century investigative techniques to recover stolen funds and hold perpetrators accountable.
The outcomes of their cases are currently pending.
Key Facts
- State: Federal
- Category: Cybercrime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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