Accused of conspiring to launder 119,754 BTC stolen from Bitfinex, Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan could post an $8 million bail only upon a ruling by a court in Washington. The order issued by a magistrate judge in the Southern District of New York, which had granted them that right, has expired.
BOOM! Chief Judge Howell of DDC Before 10 PM Stays Release In $3.6 Billion Crypto Laundering Case for Liechtenstein and Morgan, Ordered at 7 pm Mag Judge Freeman @SDNYLIVE Inner City Press story: https://t.co/EUPDCwN7Cl pic.twitter.com/Y3NnCMaY23
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) February 9, 2022
According to Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press, detainees can be brought to Washington, where their case is being heard.
It means Magistrate Judge Freeman’s 7 pm order setting conditions for release is no longer in effect; Liechtenstein and Morgan will only get out if the Court in DC, which has the case, orders it. That Court may simply order their transfer south by the Marshals. https://t.co/1TLnO4eNm7
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) February 9, 2022
Earlier, the magistrate judge ordered the release of Lichtenstein and Morgan on bail of $5 million and $3 million respectively, and also required them to remain at their home in New York and wear electronic bracelets.
During the hearing, the prosecutor stated that the pair have access to $330 million, which they could use to flee.
In a comment to journalist Colin Wu, Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino answered the community’s most pressing questions, the main one being: are the detainees hackers?
Paolo, Bitfinex CTO, answered our three questions:
1、We don’t have that information yet. The general belief is they are the money launderers, but not necessarily the hackers. It will be part of the process to confirm all the facts and potentially discover other participants. https://t.co/7APmBIZ4pR— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) February 9, 2022
Ardoin noted that he does not yet have such information. By general consensus, they were simply laundering funds, not necessarily hackers, and law enforcement still has to identify other participants.
He also said that the process of returning the stolen bitcoins by the exchange would take time, and he did not specify exact timelines. Bitfinex continues to cooperate with the Department of Justice, he added.
Ardoin expressed confidence that Bitfinex’s holders of the native LEO token would take an interest in exchanging it for BTC.
In the wake of the events, the asset rose about 50%. According to CoinGecko, at the time of writing the pace had slowed to 45%.
Earlier, Bitfinex representatives stated that if the stolen bitcoins are returned, 80% of the proceeds would go toward a buyback and burning of UNUS SED LEO tokens, as outlined in the white paper.
On February 1, 94,643 BTC moved, stolen in 2016 from Bitfinex. Whale Alert recorded more than 20 transactions.
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