A hacker has been sentenced to five years in prison in the United States for laundering money from one of the largest cryptocurrency heists ever.
Ilya Lichtenstein pleaded guilty last year in a case involving the 2016 hack of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and the theft of nearly 120,000 bitcoins.
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 bitcoins were worth about $70 million but had increased in value to more than $4.5 billion by the time they were caught. At today’s prices, they would be worth twice that.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said at the time that the $3.6 billion in assets recovered in the case was the largest financial seizure in DOJ history.
“It’s important to send a message that you cannot commit these crimes with impunity, that there will be consequences,” District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said.
Lichtenstein, who has been in prison since his arrest in February 2022, expressed remorse for his actions.
He also said that he hopes to be able to apply his skills to fight cybercrime after completing his sentence.
Morgan also pleaded guilty last year to one count of money laundering conspiracy. She will be sentenced on November 18.
According to court documents, Lichtenstein used advanced hacking tools and techniques to hack into Bitfinex.
After the hack, he enlisted Morgan’s help to launder the stolen money.
They “use many sophisticated money laundering techniques”, The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said in a statement.
Methods include using fake identities, transferring funds to different cryptocurrencies, and purchasing gold coins.
Prosecutors said Lichtenstein, who was born in Russia but grew up in the United States, would then meet deliverymen on family trips and transfer the laundered money home.
Morgan’s Razzlekhan character has gone viral on social media when the incident came out.
Even as the couple tried to cover up the hack, she published dozens of music videos and rap songs filled with explicit content filmed in locations around New York.
In the lyrics, she calls herself a “bad moneymaker” and “the alligator of Wall Street”.
In articles published in Forbes magazine, Morgan also identified herself as a successful tech businesswoman, calling herself an “economist, serial entrepreneur, software investor and rapper”.
