US arrests couple for allegedly laundering US$4.5 billion in crypto tied to Bitfinex hack

WASHINGTON: The FBI arrested a husband and wife on Tuesday morning, alleging they conspired to launder cryptocurrency stolen from the 2016 hack of virtual currency exchange Bitfinex, and said law enforcement has already seized over US$3.6 billion in cryptocurrency tied to the hack.

Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and his wife Heather Morgan, 31, both of Manhattan, are scheduled to make their initial appearances in federal court Tuesday at 3pm in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.The pair is accused of conspiring to launder 119,754 bitcoin that was stolen, after a hacker attacked Bitfinex and initiated more than 2,0000 unauthorised transactions.

"As the complaint alleges, the FBI and federal prosecutors were able to trace the movement of Bitcoin from this hack," said Matthew Graves, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia. Tuesday's criminal complaint came more than four months after Monaco announced the department was launching a new National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, which is comprised of a mix of anti-money laundering and cybersecurity experts.

Source: Digital Coin News (digitalcoinnews.net)

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