An American computer expert who stole billions of dollars worth of bitcoin at current prices and then spent years laundering some of the hacked cryptocurrency with the help of his wife has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Ilya Lichtenstein staged one of the largest-ever heists from a virtual currency exchange before he and his wife, Heather Rhiannon Morgan, pulled off an elaborate scheme to liquidate the stolen funds, according to prosecutors.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly told Lichtenstein that his theft was “meticulously planned” and not an impulsive act.

“It’s important to send a message that you can’t commit these crimes with impunity, that there are consequences for them,” she said.

Lichtenstein, who is getting credit for the two years and nine months he has spent in prison since his arrest in February 2022, expressed remorse for “wasting my talents on crime instead of making a positive contribution to society.” .

He said he hopes he can apply his experience to fight cybercrime when he gets out of prison.

“I want to take full responsibility for my actions and make amends in any way I can,” he said.

The judge is scheduled to sentence Morgan on Monday. Lichtenstein asked the judge to spare his wife from prison, blaming himself for her involvement.

In August 2016, Lichtenstein hacked a Hong Kong-based virtual currency exchange, Bitfinex, and stole approximately 120,000 bitcoins.

It was worth about $71m (£56m) at the time of the hack and would be valued at more than $7.6bn (£5.9bn) at current market prices, according to prosecutors.

A few months later, Lichtenstein began moving the stolen bitcoin in a series of complex transactions designed to hide its path across a number of accounts and platforms. He asked for his wife’s help in cleaning up the stolen funds.

Lichtenstein, an entrepreneur and cryptocurrency investor, is an American citizen who was born in Russia and grew up in a suburb of Chicago.

Morgan, a business owner and writer, adopted the alter ego “Razzlekhan” to perform rap songs and recorded videos for her music.

Lichtenstein and Morgan were living in New York City when they were arrested in February 2022. They were living in San Francisco at the time of the attack.

Prosecutors recommended a five-year prison sentence for Lichtenstein, who pleaded guilty in August 2023 to one count of money laundering conspiracy.

They recommended an 18-month prison sentence for Morgan, who pleaded guilty to the same charge.

“Neither the hack nor the laundering scheme was an impulsive decision. “The defendant (Lichtenstein) spent months trying to gain access to Bitfinex’s infrastructure and obtain the access and permissions he needed to orchestrate his hack,” prosecutors wrote.

Lichtenstein told his wife about the hack more than three years later, but he initially asked her for help laundering the proceeds “without explaining exactly what he was doing,” according to prosecutors.

Morgan “was certainly a willing participant and bears full responsibility for her actions, but she was a lower-level participant,” prosecutors wrote.

During family trips to Kazakhstan and Ukraine, Lichtenstein encountered couriers who delivered money that he smuggled back into the US.

Bitcoin is the largest and oldest cryptocurrency, i.e. digital money that is usually not backed by any government or banking institution.

Transactions are recorded with a technology called blockchain.

The couple successfully laundered approximately 21% of the stolen funds from Bitfinex.

The laundered money was worth at least $14 million at 2016 prices. Its value would have exceeded $1 billion by the time of their arrest in 2022.

Authorities seized the remaining funds, collectively valued at more than six billion dollars at current prices.

“He has become one of the largest money launderers the government has encountered in the cryptocurrency space,” prosecutors wrote.

A lawyer for Bitfinex said the hack had “devastated” its finances and reputation with its customers, with the stolen funds representing about 36% of the company’s assets at the time of the theft.

More than 96 percent of the stolen funds were recovered with help from Lichtenstein, according to defense attorney Samson Enzer.

The “vast majority” of the stolen money was never spent, the lawyer said.

“He’s not a bad person,” Mr. Enzer said. “This is a good person who made some very bad mistakes.”