A hacker has been sentenced to five years in a U.S. prison for laundering the proceeds of the largest cryptocurrency theft in history.
Ilya Lichtenstein pleaded guilty last year in the 2016 hack of the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange in which nearly 120,000 bitcoins were stolen.
He laundered the stolen cryptocurrency with the help of his wife, Heather Morgan, who used the pseudonym 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 of the arrests its value had risen to more than $4.5 billion. At current prices, it would be more than twice its value.
At the time, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said the $3.6 billion worth of assets recovered in the case was the largest financial seizure in Justice Department history.
“It is important to send the message that if you commit a crime like this, you will not go unpunished and 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 would like to apply his skills to fighting cybercrime after completing his sentence.
Morgan also pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy charges last year. She is scheduled to be sentenced on November 18.
According to court documents, Liechtenstein used advanced hacking tools and techniques to hack Bitfinex.
After the hack, he enlisted Morgan’s help to launder the stolen funds.
They “used numerous sophisticated laundering techniques.” The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said in a statement:.
The methods included using virtual identities, converting funds to other cryptocurrencies, and purchasing gold coins.
Prosecutors said Lichtenstein, who was born in Russia and raised in the United States, met a courier during a family trip and took the laundered money home.
Morgan’s Razzlekhan persona went viral on social media. When the incident came out.
Despite the couple’s attempts to cover up the hack, she posted dozens of profanity-filled music videos and rap songs filmed around New York.
In her lyrics, she called herself a “bad moneymaker” and a “alligator on Wall Street.”
In an article published in Forbes magazine, Morgan claimed to be a successful technology entrepreneur, calling himself “an economist, serial entrepreneur, software investor, and rapper.”
