Bitcoin prices fell after news of the seizure, which authorities called their largest ever.
, 34-year-old Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife, Heather Morgan, 31, conspired to launder the proceeds of 119,754 bitcoins—currently worth about $5 billion—that were stolen from the Bitfinex platform after a breach of the cryptocurrency exchange's systems in 2016.
At the time, the unnamed hacker allegedly made more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions transferring the stolen cryptocurrency to a digital wallet under Lichntenstein's control, authoritiesThey allege Lichentenstein and Morgan then employed"numerous sophisticated laundering techniques"—including using fake identities to set up online accounts and running computer programs to automate transactions—to transfer about 25,000 stolen coins out of the wallet and into financial accounts...
According to the DOJ on Tuesday, special agents obtained court-authorized search warrants to go through the couple's online accounts and were able to find files containing the private keys required to access a digital wallet containing 94,000 bitcoins representing about $3.6 billion in stolen funds.the recovered funds marked the DOJ's"largest financial seizure ever" and called the case proof that"cryptocurrency is not a safe haven for criminals.
The couple has been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and conspiracy to defraud the United States, which carries a maximum sentence of five years.The price of bitcoin pared recent gains after the announcement, falling nearly 2% to $42,910.“Cryptocurrency and the virtual currency exchanges trading in it comprise an expanding part of the U.S.
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