Ilya Lichtenstein, the mastermind behind the 2016 hack of the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange, has been sentenced to five years in prison.
Lichtenstein has been charged for his role in laundering nearly 120,000 stolen Bitcoin.
The heist, which was one of the largest virtual currency thefts at the time, involved over 2,000 unauthorized transactions. Furthermore, Lichtenstein siphoned off Bitcoin valued at $70 million in 2016—now worth a staggering $10.5 billion due to Bitcoin’s meteoric rise.
In a US District Court in Washington DC, Lichtenstein expressed remorse. He told Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, “I want to take full responsibility for my actions and make amends any way I can.”
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Lichtenstein Sentenced To Three Years of Supervised Release
Alongside the prison term, Lichtenstein was sentenced to three years of supervised release.
He faced a potential maximum sentence of 20 years before reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors. Furthermore, he admitted his role as the Bitfinex hacker during an August 2023 hearing.
Prosecutors described Lichtenstein’s actions as unprecedented in scale and complexity. “The defendant perpetrated what was at the time one of the largest thefts from a virtual currency exchange,” they noted in court filings.
Over five years, Lichtenstein and his wife, Heather Morgan, employed intricate money laundering techniques. The IRS agents called it the most sophisticated scheme they had encountered.
BREAKING: Ilya Lichtenstein (“Razzlekhan”) Sentenced to 5 Years for Laundering Bitfinex Funds pic.twitter.com/Awh9YwbjjD
— borovik (@3orovik) November 14, 2024
Morgan, considered a “lower-level participant” who joined the conspiracy three years after the hack, is set to be sentenced next week. Meanwhile, prosecutors are seeking an 18-month prison term.
The case also led to the seizure of over 94,000 stolen Bitcoin by the Department of Justice in February 2022. At the time of the arrest, the recovered assets were valued at $3.6 billion, a figure that has since ballooned to nearly $8.3 billion.
Lichtenstein will receive credit for the 29 months already served in custody. However, his wife’s sentencing outcome remains a key element in closing the chapter on one of cryptocurrency’s most infamous crimes.
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India Arrests Suspect Tied to $234M WazirX Attack
Earlier this week, the Delhi Police’s Special Cell arrested SK Masud Alam, a resident of West Bengal, for allegedly facilitating the cyberattack on cryptocurrency exchange WazirX, which resulted in the theft of over $234 million in digital assets, by creating a fake account.
Alam was apprehended in East Midnapore, West Bengal, and is accused of using the alias Souvik Mondal to open a WazirX account, which was later sold via Telegram to another individual, M Hasan.
The hacking operation reportedly drained WazirX’s hot wallet and attempted to access its cold wallet, which holds funds offline for added security.
As part of the investigation, the police seized three laptops used by authorized signatories of the platform’s multi-signature wallet system.
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