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Ilya Lichtenstein, the mastermind behind the 2016 hack of the Bitfinex cryptocurrency change, has been sentenced to 5 years in jail.
Lichtenstein has been charged for his position in laundering almost 120,000 stolen Bitcoin.
The heist, which was one of many largest digital forex thefts on the time, concerned over 2,000 unauthorized transactions. Moreover, Lichtenstein siphoned off Bitcoin valued at $70 million in 2016—now value a staggering $10.5 billion as a consequence of Bitcoin’s meteoric rise.
In a US District Court in Washington DC, Lichtenstein expressed regret. He advised Choose Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, “I need to take full duty for my actions and make amends any means I can.”
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Lichtenstein Sentenced To Three Years of Supervised Launch
Alongside the jail time period, Lichtenstein was sentenced to 3 years of supervised launch.
He confronted a possible most sentence of 20 years earlier than reaching a plea settlement with prosecutors. Moreover, he admitted his position because the Bitfinex hacker throughout an August 2023 listening to.
Prosecutors described Lichtenstein’s actions as unprecedented in scale and complexity. “The defendant perpetrated what was on the time one of many largest thefts from a digital forex change,” they famous in courtroom filings.
Over 5 years, Lichtenstein and his spouse, Heather Morgan, employed intricate cash laundering methods. The IRS brokers known as it essentially the most subtle scheme they’d encountered.
BREAKING: Ilya Lichtenstein ("Razzlekhan") Sentenced to five Years for Laundering Bitfinex Funds pic.twitter.com/Awh9YwbjjD
— borovik (@3orovik) November 14, 2024
Morgan, thought-about a “lower-level participant” who joined the conspiracy three years after the hack, is about to be sentenced subsequent week. In the meantime, prosecutors are in search of an 18-month jail time period.
The case additionally led to the seizure of over 94,000 stolen Bitcoin by the Division of Justice in February 2022. On the time of the arrest, the recovered property have been valued at $3.6 billion, a determine that has since ballooned to just about $8.3 billion.
Lichtenstein will obtain credit score for the 29 months already served in custody. Nevertheless, his spouse’s sentencing consequence stays a key factor in closing the chapter on one in all cryptocurrency’s most notorious crimes.
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India Arrests Suspect Tied to $234M WazirX Assault
Earlier this week, the Delhi Police’s Particular Cell arrested SK Masud Alam, a resident of West Bengal, for allegedly facilitating the cyberattack on cryptocurrency change WazirX, which resulted within the theft of over $234 million in digital property, by making a faux account.
Alam was apprehended in East Midnapore, West Bengal, and is accused of utilizing the alias Souvik Mondal to open a WazirX account, which was later offered by way of Telegram to a different particular person, M Hasan.
The hacking operation reportedly drained WazirX’s scorching pockets and tried to entry its chilly pockets, which holds funds offline for added safety.
As a part of the investigation, the police seized three laptops utilized by licensed signatories of the platform’s multi-signature pockets system.
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