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Highlights
- It was the largest cryptocurrency seizure ever made by the Justice Department.
- The accused Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and his wife, Heather Morgan, 31, both residents of New York, were due to appear before a federal court on Tuesday afternoon.
- The prosecutors said that the stolen coins were placed in a digital wallet used by Lichtenstein.
The Justice Department on Tuesday said that it seized more than US$4.5 billion worth of Bitcoins stolen in a hacking attack on a cryptocurrency exchange in 2016.
It is the largest cryptocurrency seizure ever made by the Justice Department, it said in a release. At the time, they were valued at around US$$71 million. The Bitcoins were stolen from the Bitfinex exchange, which is affiliated with the world’s biggest stablecoin, Tether.
The total value of stolen Bitcoin is now worth about US$4.5 billion, Bloomberg quoted the Department as saying. The police arrested two suspects in Manhattan for allegedly trying to launder the proceeds.
The Department said that the accused Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and his wife, Heather Morgan, 31, both residents of New York, were due to appear before a federal court on Tuesday afternoon in Manhattan.
The authorities alleged the couple conspired to launder 119,754 stolen Bitcoin after a breach into Bitfinex. The prosecutors said that the stolen coins were placed in a digital wallet used by Lichtenstein.
Of the total, around 25,000 coins were transferred out of Lichtenstein’s wallet in the last five years.
The stolen funds were then deposited into financial accounts operated by Lichtenstein and Morgan following a lengthy laundering process, the release said. The leftover stolen funds stayed in the wallet.
Bitfinex lauded the US action that led to the recovery of the stolen Bitcoins and said the exchange cooperated extensively with the Justice Department in its investigation.
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Couple faces a 20-year prison sentence
Reacting to the seizure, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said the recovery shows “cryptocurrency is not a safe haven for criminals.” said in a statement.
The Unus Sed Leo cryptocurrency, issued in part to recapitalize the exchange after the hack, surged over 50% after the announcement.
The trial will be eventually shifted to Washington, where the charges were filed. The prosecutors have asked the judge not to allow them bail. The couple faces a 20-year prison sentence.
