U.S. authorities confiscated $3.6 billion in Bitcoin stolen from Bitfinex

U.S. authorities announced the arrest of individuals involved in the Bitfinex hack in 2016, as well as the seizure of $3.6 billion in Bitcoin.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice press release, the defendants are a married couple — 34-year-old Ilya Lichtenstein and 31-year-old Heather Morgan.

“According to court documents, Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan allegedly conspired to launder proceeds in the form of 119,754 BTC, stolen from Bitfinex after a hacker compromised the platform’s systems and conducted more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions,” the department said.

According to officials, the stolen cryptocurrency ultimately ended up in a wallet controlled by Lichtenstein.

“Over the past five years, roughly 25,000 of these stolen bitcoins were withdrawn from Lichtenstein’s wallet through a complex money-laundering process. This process culminated in transferring part of the stolen funds to financial accounts controlled by Lichtenstein and Morgan.”

The remaining portion of the stolen coins — more than 94,000 BTC — remained in the wallet used to receive and store illicit proceeds tied to the hack.

“After executing court-authorized search warrants, federal agents gained access to files in an online account under Lichtenstein’s control. Those files contained private keys needed to access the digital wallet into which Bitfinex’s stolen funds were being deposited, enabling agents to lawfully seize and recover more than 94,000 bitcoins stolen from the platform. The recovered bitcoins were valued at more than $3.6 billion at the time of the operation.”

DOJ officials emphasized that this is the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the department’s history.

“Today, federal law enforcement again demonstrated that we can track money using blockchain tools, and we will not allow cryptocurrency to be a ‘safe haven’ for money laundering or a territory of lawlessness within our financial system,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr.

If Lichtenstein and Morgan are found guilty, they could face up to 25 years in prison.

Bitfinex representatives stated that they will continue to cooperate with the U.S. Department of Justice to attempt to recover all seized bitcoins. If successful, the company will, within 18 months, use 80% of the recovered amount for a buyback and burn of UNUS SED LEO tokens, as provided in the white paper.

In August 2020, Bitfinex announced a $400 million reward for helping recover funds stolen from the platform in 2016.

In October of the same year, the attackers moved bitcoins totaling more than $30 million, and in December — a total of 7,045.48 BTC.

Document by ForkLog on Scribd

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Earlier, on February 1, 94 643 BTC were moved, stolen in 2016 from Bitfinex. Whale Alert tracked more than 20 transactions.

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