A US court authorized Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan who were arrested on charges of laundering $4.5 billion in stolen bitcoins to be released from jail on $8 million bail, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th February, 2022) A US court authorized Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan who were arrested on charges of laundering $4.5 billion in stolen bitcoins to be released from jail on $8 million bail, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
Lichtenstein and Morgan were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly conspiring to launder nearly 120,000 bitcoins, amounting to $4.5 billion at the current exchange rate, stolen from the virtual Currency platform Bitfinex during a hacking attack in 2016.
According to the media, at a hearing on Wednesday, a Federal court ruled that the couple can leave jail on $8 million bail, including $5 million for Lichtenstein and $3 million for Morgan. Both defendants were assigned to stay in their home in New York City with ankle bracelets attached.
The criminal case alleges that the suspects used numerous sophisticated methods to launder money stolen after the hacking attack on the Bitfinex platform, including using false identities to create internet accounts, running computer programs to automate transactions, and depositing stolen funds on various virtual currency exchanges and darknet markets, among others.
Lichtenstein and Morgan were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States, which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years and five years in prison, respectively.
The cyber hacking of the Hong Kong cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex occurred in early August 2016. According to Bitfinex, hackers stole 119,756 bitcoins, equivalent to approximately $65 million at that time.
