TechFlow reports that Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, a married couple from New York City, have pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder money related to the theft of approximately 120,000 bitcoins from Bitfinex. Lichtenstein faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering, while Morgan faces up to five years in prison for one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
The couple was arrested in February 2022 after authorities seized about 95,000 stolen bitcoins from cryptocurrency wallets controlled by the defendants. At the time of seizure, the recovered funds were valued at approximately $3.6 billion. Since their arrest, the government has seized an additional $475 million linked to this hack. According to court documents, Lichtenstein used various sophisticated hacking tools and techniques to gain access to the Bitfinex network. Once inside, he fraudulently authorized over 2,000 transactions, transferring 119,754 bitcoins from Bitfinex to cryptocurrency wallets under his control. Afterward, Lichtenstein took steps to cover his tracks by returning to the Bitfinex network and deleting access credentials and other log files that could expose him to law enforcement. Following the breach, Lichtenstein, with the help of his wife Morgan, laundered the stolen funds using various money laundering techniques also assisted by Morgan.
