US authorities have arrested New York-based married couple Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan for conspiring to launder cryptocurrency. The laundered cryptocurrency was stolen during the 2016 hack of the virtual currency exchange Bitfinex. The current value of the total stolen cryptocurrency is nearly $4.5 billion. Authorities have so far seized over $3.6 billion in stolen cryptocurrency from the 2016 hack.
Lichtenstein and Morgan allegedly conspired to launder the proceeds of 119,754 bitcoin stolen from Bitfinex’s platform after a hacker initiated more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions from the platform. Authorities have alleged that the stolen bitcoin from that theft was sent to a digital wallet that Lichtenstein controlled. Over the last five years, the conspirators transferred nearly 25,000 of the stolen bitcoin out of Lichtenstein’s wallet.
Lichtenstein and Morgan both used several complex ML tactics, including using fictitious identities to set up online accounts, employing computer programs to automate transactions, converting bitcoin to anonymity-enhanced virtual currency, etc. The couple can receive up to 25 years in prison for conspiring to commit ML and defraud the US.
Source: US Department of Justice