A New York City couple was arrested Tuesday for allegedly conspiring to launder $4.5 billion of stolen Bitcoin. The cryptocurrency was taken during a hack of crypto exchange Bitfinex in 2016.
Federal authorities seized $3.6 billion in Bitcoin, which the Department of Justice is calling the largest financial seizure ever, according to Forbes.
Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and his wife, Heather Morgan, 31, who also doubles as a rapper, were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. The DOJ executed search warrants on the couple’s accounts. Files containing private keys required to access the bitcoins were discovered.
In 2016, an unnamed hacker stole the crypto using a series of unauthorized transactions. It was transferred to a digital wallet that Lichtenstein controlled. In the five years that follow, authorities say the couple allegedly used “numerous sophisticated laundering techniques” to transfer 25,000 coins into their accounts.
“Cryptocurrency and the virtual currency exchanges trading in it comprise an expanding part of the U.S. financial system, but digital currency heists executed through complex money laundering schemes could undermine confidence in cryptocurrency,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves in a statement.
