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New York couple guilty of stealing 120,000 BTC from Bitfinex
5 years ago the largest theft in bitcoins occurred, after time of investigation a marriage was thrown as authors of the facts
One of the largest financial seizures was found in the last week, this sum of money brought a theft perpetrated in 2016, which was directed towards the Bitfinex exchange.
Tlatforms in the world before its hack. The authorities had to spend 5 years to get to the culprits of stealing one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges at the time where the money had been.
Apparently the alleged culprits of the crypto hack, currently valued at $4.5 billion, were not discreet enough in moving a large amount of the hacked hot wallet.
The great Bitfinex robbery was not forgotten
The 2016 theft of 120,000 BTC was valued at around $72 million at the time, and was listed as the biggest financial crime of that year. Such a large amount that it was very difficult to move.
Not only because of the inconvenience of explaining a transaction of that amount to financial institutions, but also because of the gigantic problem of being a hot wallet. This, being connected to the internet is public.
That is, anyone can see your movements in transactions. And by having this information, it is very difficult to move the stored assets, because this investigation acts as an inexhaustible magnifying glass to know about the stolen money at all times.
The alleged hackers tried to cover their tracks
At the time of obtaining this money, on the same day in August 2016, the authorities noted varied movements, where quick and nervous transactions had been recorded.
Expert investigation indicates that the perpetrators attempted to liquidate the stolen bitcoins by acquiring physical gold, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and sending various sums of money to other financial and investment entities.
In addition to creating several false online accounts, to carry out a large network, which tried to erase traces of transactions.
The hacked Hot Wallet registered a great movement
On the first day of February, it was made public in all cryptographic media that a movement of the wallet with the stolen bitcoins from Bitfinex had been detected.
A figure of 10,000 BTC is not something that can be hidden, and the crooks were not the least bit careful after making such a financial move to an unknown wallet.
This crack in the shell that hid the “hackers” from the Bitfinex episode was enough for them to find them. We only had to wait a little over a week for these events.
Apparently they trusted each other, for having spent so much time after what happened. It is not for less after observing spending 5 years with that millionaire amount so close, but at the same time so far from it.
The address was from a New York couple
The characters in this story, Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, the current gangsters in the crypto world, for a robbery that could have been considered perfect, but were found out.
Lichtenstein and Morgan are a young, haughty, focused couple. Who seemed to have the world in his hands, brought the security of his life plans in a clean hack in 2016.
Despite having the common sense of thinking that thieves guilty of such a large activity would keep a low profile, this couple could not avoid their social networks.
While Lichtenstein was considered just another businessman, Morgan was active on every social network in existence, from Instagram to TikTok.
A self-styled comedic rapper, she was constantly uploading low-budget videos, as well as writing finance and cryptocurrency articles. She even wrote notes on these issues for Forbes magazine.
Their eccentric personality has led many people to believe that this couple is not responsible for the hack. Possibly, they are accomplices of the real author of the 2,000 illegal transactions carried out on the Bitfinex exchange.
The couple was caught the morning of February 8
According to the authorities, the couple had been under investigation for a year, when they managed to visualize some traces of the great sophisticated network to launder the stolen bitcoins.
With a search warrant they were able to enter his house and also his files, where they found the keys to several wallets where the money was divided.
Although the investigation does not provide evidence that the marriage was responsible for the hack, it is very clear that they are guilty of money laundering since 2016.
Both were arrested and present crimes before a court. The crimes he is charged with are: money laundering conspiracy (20 years in prison) and conspiracy to defraud the US (5 years in prison).
Preventive prison and a release on bail in the Bitfinex case
The couple in court pleaded not guilty to all charges filed by the prosecution and the New York police, although there was irrefutable proof of a total of 25,000 BTC in the marriage accounts.
In its entirety, authorities announced finding records of 94,000 BTC laundered by Morgan and Lichtenstein.
While Morgan was released on bail after Valentine's Day, her husband was placed in pretrial detention on the grounds that he had sufficient reason and the ability to escape the city, and the country.
Heather Morgan's bail was set at $3 million, but that won't save her from being tried by a jury.
Netflix is already preparing a documentary of this story
The streaming giant has found a new story to tell. The New York couple guilty of the biggest bitcoin theft seems to be a good project to get down to work on.
Netflix in a statement commented on the news of the marriage that has been charged with money laundering crimes, and also named the director and even the producer of this documentary film.
They have a series planned, and it will be screened by director Chris Smith, accompanied in production by Nick Bilton. Both famous for making crime documentaries.
Stolen BTC will be returned to their owners
As of 2016, the Bitfinex hack was calculated in FIAT money at around USD$72 million. A huge figure, but that is small when knowing its cost today.
In the 5 years that have passed, bitcoin (BTC) has increased by 7415%. Which means that those USD$72 million were converted and enlarged.
The research entities announced that a disbursement would be made to those affected by this robbery, which would make them new millionaires due to the great rise in the reigning token in the volatile world.
From the point of view of crypto experts, if this were to take place it would be the largest cryptocurrency exchange in history. Practically, it was a loan repaid with millionaire interest.
Bitfinex also disbursed the victims their money in dollars over time, under a recovery token called LEO. The exchange after this has kept a low profile and has not said anything about the finding in recent days.
