US Seizes $5Bn Stolen Bitcoin, New York Influencer Couple Accused

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Only four months after the US Justice Department launched a National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, it would seem that the massive 2016 Bitfinex hack has been solved. At the time, hackers got hold of $71 million worth of Bitcoins, some 120,000 of the coins.

By now, their value had shot up to an incredible $5 billion. The US has now seized these funds and launched criminal investigations against a couple of 30-year-olds from New York.

In a statement, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite Jr explained that his department:

Will not allow cryptocurrency to be a safe haven for money laundering or a zone of lawlessness within our financial system.

It was clear that the US Justice Department was getting closed to the hackers already last week, when the criminals tried, but failed, to move some of the stolen crypto.

The funds were allegedly reclaimed from a digital wallet run by a man known as Ilya Lichtenstein, 34 years old. According to the official complaint, Mr Lichtenstein and his spouse, 31 year old Heather Morgan had managed to launder some 25,000 of the stolen Bitcoin using various methods.

Ilya Lichtenstein, a tech entrepreneur and Y combinator alum.

Heather Morgan, a Forbes columnist.

Today they were arrested for trying to launder billions in stolen crypto. They face up to 20 years in prison. pic.twitter.com/iUNRJDfVfL

— Fintwit (@fintwit_news) February 8, 2022

The cryptosphere had a lot of fun uncovering the past of Heather Morgan mostly, who seemed to have used the stolen funds to try and launch herself as an influencer. It would even appear she managed to write an article for Fortune about the dangers of cybercrime. Well duh. She also posed as a rapper called Razzlekhan, but even though she poured a lot of money in her career, it never really took off.

:youtube[Nmo27rBwIOY]

A twitter influencer stated:

Forget the crypto heist, I want to talk abt Heather’s rap ego Razzlekhan, & video “Versace Bedouin”

If I have to suffer through this, so do you.

Heather Morgan — the woman arrested on suspicion of laundering crypto linked to the Bitfinex hack — is also an amateur rapper. pic.twitter.com/qAK9WUfZCy

— Connor Sephton (@ConnorSephton) February 8, 2022

The couple faces up to 20 years in prison.