Man
Professional
- Messages
- 3,066
- Reaction score
- 593
- Points
- 113
The stolen bitcoins have not yet been returned to their owners.
A court in Washington sentenced one of the defendants in a high-profile case of stealing cryptocurrency from the Bitfinex exchange to five years in prison. 35-year-old Ilya Lichtenstein was punished for laundering bitcoins stolen in 2016. After serving the term, the convict will have to spend three years under supervision.
The second defendant in the case, Liechtenstein's wife Heather Morgan, is awaiting sentencing on November 18. Last year, both defendants pleaded guilty to laundering stolen cryptocurrency.
According to the District of Columbia Attorney's Office, in 2016, Liechtenstein hacked the Bitfinex network and conducted over 2000 unauthorized transactions, transferring bitcoins to a personal wallet. The attacker then deleted the credentials and log files from the exchange's system to hide their tracks.
Morgan joined the criminal scheme later, when her husband asked for help in money laundering. The couple used fake identities to create online accounts, automate transactions with the help of programs, and placed stolen funds on darknet sites and crypto exchanges. The pair converted bitcoins into other crypto assets and gold coins, used mixing services to disguise the origin of funds, and also used the accounts of American companies to legalize banking transactions.
The volume of stolen cryptocurrency amounted to 119,754 bitcoins, the value of which at the time of the theft was estimated at $72 million. Today, the amount exceeds $10 billion. Law enforcement officers seized most of the funds - 94,643 bitcoins, which are planned to be returned to the Bitfinex exchange. The main issue for the crypto community remains the deadline for returning the seized funds to the exchange.
Source
A court in Washington sentenced one of the defendants in a high-profile case of stealing cryptocurrency from the Bitfinex exchange to five years in prison. 35-year-old Ilya Lichtenstein was punished for laundering bitcoins stolen in 2016. After serving the term, the convict will have to spend three years under supervision.
The second defendant in the case, Liechtenstein's wife Heather Morgan, is awaiting sentencing on November 18. Last year, both defendants pleaded guilty to laundering stolen cryptocurrency.
According to the District of Columbia Attorney's Office, in 2016, Liechtenstein hacked the Bitfinex network and conducted over 2000 unauthorized transactions, transferring bitcoins to a personal wallet. The attacker then deleted the credentials and log files from the exchange's system to hide their tracks.
Morgan joined the criminal scheme later, when her husband asked for help in money laundering. The couple used fake identities to create online accounts, automate transactions with the help of programs, and placed stolen funds on darknet sites and crypto exchanges. The pair converted bitcoins into other crypto assets and gold coins, used mixing services to disguise the origin of funds, and also used the accounts of American companies to legalize banking transactions.
The volume of stolen cryptocurrency amounted to 119,754 bitcoins, the value of which at the time of the theft was estimated at $72 million. Today, the amount exceeds $10 billion. Law enforcement officers seized most of the funds - 94,643 bitcoins, which are planned to be returned to the Bitfinex exchange. The main issue for the crypto community remains the deadline for returning the seized funds to the exchange.
Source
