Official announcements from the Department of Justice

Heather Morgan Sentenced to 18 Months for Role in $10.8 Billion Bitfinex Bitcoin Laundering; Ilya Lichtenstein Gets Five Years

Nov 18, 2024, 07:14 PM

Heather Morgan, also known as Razzlekhan, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for her role in laundering bitcoin stolen from the Bitfinex exchange in 2016. Her husband, Ilya Lichtenstein, received a five-year sentence for masterminding the theft and laundering of the cryptocurrency. The stolen bitcoin, valued at $71 million at the time of the theft and $10.8 billion today, represents one of the largest heists in the history of virtual currency. Approximately 120,000 bitcoins were stolen, worth $4 billion at the time. The Department of Justice's crackdown on cryptocurrency-related crimes has led to significant sentences for those involved in such schemes, including the first-ever sentence for conspiracy to defraud FinCEN.