A criminal has been given a prison sentence of five years in the United States for his involvement in the laundering of funds from one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts ever recorded.
Ilya Lichtenstein, who admitted to his role in the 2016 hacking of the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange, worked with his wife Heather Morgan (also known as Razzlekhan) to launder the stolen bitcoins.
The value of the stolen cryptocurrency was initially around $70 million, but had increased to over $4.5 billion by the time of their arrest. Today, the bitcoins would be worth more than double that amount.
The Department of Justice seized $3.6 billion in assets, marking the biggest financial seizure in their history, according to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.
District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly stressed the importance of sending a message that these crimes will not go unpunished, stating that there are consequences for such actions. Lichtenstein, who has been incarcerated since his arrest in February 2022, expressed regret for his involvement in the crime.
