A hacker has been sentenced to five years in prison in the US for laundering the proceeds from one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in history.
Ilya Lichtenstein pleaded guilty last year in the case involving the 2016 hacking of the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange and the theft of nearly 120,000 bitcoin.
He laundered the stolen cryptocurrency with the help of his wife Heather Morgan, who used the alias Razzlekhan to promote her hip-hop music.
At the time of the theft, the bitcoin was worth around $70 million (£55.3 million), but by the time they were arrested it had risen in value to more than $4.5 billion. At current prices they would be worth more than double.
The $3.6 billion worth of assets recovered in the case were the largest financial seizure in the history of the Justice Department, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said at the time.
“It’s important to send the message that you cannot commit these crimes with impunity, that there are consequences,” District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said.
Lichtenstein, who has been in prison since his arrest in February 2022, expressed regret for his actions.
He also said he hopes to apply his skills to fight cybercrime after he completes his sentence.
Morgan also pleaded guilty last year to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. She will be sentenced on November 18.
According to court documents, Lichtenstein used advanced hacking tools and techniques to hack Bitfinex.
After the hack, he enlisted Morgan’s help to launder the stolen money.
They “used numerous sophisticated money laundering techniques,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
The methods include using fictitious identities, converting the money into various cryptocurrencies and buying gold coins.
Lichtenstein, born in Russia but raised in the U.S., met couriers on family trips and brought the laundered money back home, prosecutors said.
Heather Morgan posted hip-hop videos under the alias Razzlekhan (BBC)
Morgan’s Razzlekhan persona went viral on social media when the case came to light.
Even as the couple tried to cover up the hack, she released dozens of expletive-filled music videos and rap songs filmed in locations around New York.
In her lyrics she called herself a “bad-ass money maker” and “the crocodile of Wall Street”.
In articles published in Forbes magazine, Morgan also claimed to be a successful technology businesswoman, calling herself an “economist, serial entrepreneur, software investor and rapper”.
