- US prosecutors are asking the court docket to impose a five-year jail sentence on Ilya Lichtenstein, the mastermind of the $6 billion Bitfinex hack.
- Lichtenstein represents a troubling pattern amongst younger cybercriminals who’re normalizing their crimes on-line.
- Heather Morgan, Lichtenstein's spouse faces an 18-month jail sentence.
US prosecutors have really useful a five-year jail sentence for Ilya Lichtenstein, who pleaded responsible to cash laundering conspiracy linked to the $6 billion Bitfinex hack. They imagine Lichtenstein displays a troubling pattern amongst younger cybercriminals who normalize their offenses on-line and underestimate the hurt inflicted on their victims, in line with a Bloomberg report launched at this time.
In a federal court docket in Washington, prosecutors are searching for “a harsh sentence” for Lichtenstein to discourage crypto crimes. This follows a submitting final week that really useful Lichtenstein's spouse and co-conspirator, Heather Morgan, serve 18 months in jail. In a submitting Tuesday, prosecutors argued that Lichtenstein, the mastermind behind one of many largest cryptocurrency heists in historical past, ought to spend extra time in jail.
Additionally Learn: Bitfinex CTO Debunks Knowledge Breach Rumors at Crypto Trade
Lichtenstein admitted to orchestrating the $4.5 billion cyberattack on Bitfinex, a cryptocurrency alternate owned and operated by iFinex Inc. The pair carried out the plan in 2016, however authorities didn’t arrest them till in 2022 for conspiracy and cash laundering. Authorities seized $3.6 billion from the couple, and Assistant U.S. Lawyer Common Lisa Monaco described the seizure as “the division's largest monetary seizure ever.”
The federal government recognized Lichtenstein as the primary perpetrator of the Bitfinex hack. He laundered the stolen funds with the assistance of his spouse, rapper Razzlekhan. Heather Morgan admitted to serving to her husband disguise the illicit cryptocurrency even after discovering his involvement within the hack in 2020.
Whereas prosecutors are asking the court docket to impose a major sentence on Lichtenstein, they don’t seem to be searching for the utmost sentence due to his cooperation with the investigation. The couple is anticipated to be sentenced in November 2024.
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