#bitfinex

Ilya Lichtenstein, known for the theft of 120,000 BTC from Bitfinex, has made his first public statement since pleading guilty last year. Previously sentenced to five years for money laundering, his partner Heather Morgan received 18 months.

Ilya Lichtenstein, who hacked the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange and laundered 119,754 BTC (now valued at approximately $10.5 billion), received a five-year prison sentence instead of the potential twenty, thanks to his collaboration with authorities. At the time of the hack, the stolen assets were valued at $71 million.

As per BitInfoCharts, the wallet address bc1q…859v2 received its initial deposit of BTC on March 8. Over the following three and a half months, it amassed 118,000 BTC (nearly $3.1 billion). Speculations quickly spread across X (Twitter), suggesting it might be BlackRock strategically increasing its BTC holdings. However, the wallet belongs to the US-based exchange Gemini. It transferred its funds from an older wallet, which was also among the top BTC holders nearly a year ago. The current top three wallets are as follows: Binance cold wallet — 248,597 BTC. Bitfinex cold wallet — 178,010 BTC. Gemini new wallet — 118,300 BTC.

Heather Morgan, the wife of Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein linked to the 2016 Bitfinex hack, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for her conspiratory role in money laundering.

The initial offering of tokenized bonds ALT2611 on Bitfinex Securities, a platform focusing on RWAs, failed to attract the expected interest.

Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, a husband and wife duo of crypto hackers, have pleaded guilty to federal money laundering conspiracy charges related to the 2016 hack of the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex. Their guilty plea comes after a year and a half since their arrest and charges in February 2022 and seven years after the initial hack. According to the government’s allegations, Lichtenstein hacked into Bitfinex and stole 119,754 bitcoins, which were valued at $72 million at the time and are now worth approximately $3.5 billion, for his personal benefit.