The US Department of Justice (DoJ) set a new record for seizures on February 8: 94,000 bitcoins stolen, worth $3.6 billion at the current cryptocurrency price, have been recovereda couple in their thirties was arrested in New York.
A flight that left traces
In August 2016, the hacking of one of the largest cryptocurrency trading platforms in the world, Bitfinex, based in Hong Kong, made an impression. 119,754 bitcoins worth $71 million then, $4.5 billion today, had been stolen via 2000 illegal transactions. The price of the cryptocurrency had fallen by 20% following the revelation of the digital heist.
News corp victim of a cyberattack, China singled out
American justice managed to recover part of the sum by retracing the movements on the blockchain. Deputy Attorney General Kenneth Polite Jr welcomed that ” Federal law enforcement is once again demonstrating that we can track money through blockchain. »
The arrested couple, 34-year-old Ilya Lichtenstein and 31-year-old Heather Morgan, are not named as being responsible for the theft itself. These two tech entrepreneurs, as they describe themselves on LinkedIn note Techcrunch, are accused of attempting to launder the stolen bitcoins. Federal agents managed to obtain the keys to the digital wallet of one of the suspects.
For 5 years Ilya and Heather have mobilized various techniques ” sophisticated to wash about 25,000 bitcoins. Among the many means implemented, the opening of online accounts under fictitious identities, automatic transaction programs, the conversion of Bitcoins into other digital currencies using chain skipping, etc.
?#BitFinex Exciting dive into this case of hacking and money laundering #bitcoin stolen! Between the purchase of gold, NFT, gift cards, everything has been tried to recover the 3.6 billion but it is indeed in prison that the accused are sleeping! https://t.co/EWypmjW8d4 pic.twitter.com/fswoXmz3mx
— Gerome Billois (@gbillois) February 9, 2022
Bitcoin is no safe haven for criminals, DoJ proclaims
A few months after the creation of a team specializing in cases involving the transfer of cryptocurrencies at the Department of Justice, Kenneth Polite Jr reaffirms, ” we will not allow cryptocurrencies to be a haven for money laundering or a zone of anarchy within our financial system “.
Lisa O. Monaco, Deputy Attorney General, said the $3.6 billion recovered represented “the largest financial seizure ever made by the ministry “. The previous record was linked to the operation against the Silk Road marketplace, the “drug supermarket”. 69,000 bitcoins worth $1 billion had been recovered.
Bitfinex welcomed the news. The platform said it was working with US authorities to return the stolen money to their rightful owners. As for Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, a judge ordered their release on February 8 against bail of 5 million dollars for the first and 3 million dollars for the second. They face up to 25 years in prison for conspiracy to launder money and fraud against the United States government.