A skilled and prolific hacker was sentenced to five years in prison on November 14 for laundering the proceeds of one of the biggest cryptocurrency heists ever. His crime involved 2016 theft of a reported 120,000 bitcoins from cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, worth more than $9 billion at today’s increased exchange rate.

Now Ilya Lictenstein has been sentenced to five years in prison after trying to launder the money with the help of his wife Heather Morgan, who used the pseudonym ‘Razzlekhan’ to promote her pop music career. His wife previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to launder money and is due to be sentenced next week.

According to court documents, Lichtenstein hacked Bitfinex using advanced hacking tools: Once inside the network, he fraudulently authorized more than 2,000 transactions by transferring 119,754 bitcoins from Bitfinex to a cryptocurrency wallet under Lichtenstein’s control. In a statement, the US Department of Justice said that “Lichtenstein then took steps to cover his tracks by deleting Bitfinex’s network access data and other log files that could have revealed his behavior to law enforcement.” order… Following the attack, Lichtenstein enlisted the help of his wife, Heather Morgan, in laundering the stolen funds,”

At the time of the theft, the bitcoin was worth around $70 million (£55.3 million), but the value had risen to more than $4.5 billion by the time of the arrest. At current prices, bitcoins are worth more than double.

Lichtenstein, who has been in prison since his February 2022 arrest, who is 35, was ordered to serve three years of supervised release after his release from prison. This apparently lenient sentence for a theft of such magnitude was perhaps mitigated by his commitment to apply his skills to fight cybercrime after serving his sentence.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly told Lichtenstein that his theft was “meticulously planned” and not an impulsive act. Lichtenstein used advanced techniques, which included using fictitious identities, changing funds into different cryptocurrencies and buying gold coins. Lichtenstein was born in Russia but grew up in the US and would meet couriers to move the laundered money to Russia.

His wife has produced dozens of profanity-laced music videos and rap songs shot on location in New York, in which she has described herself as a “money-making fool” and “the crocodile of Wall Street.”

US Department of Justice. | wealth | Axios | Bolton News | BBC | CCN

Image: @HeatherReyhan

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