US prosecutors push for 5 year prison sentence for Bitfinex-hack mastermind

US prosecutors have urged a Washington federal judge to sentence Ilya Lichtenstein, the mastermind who hacked the Bitfinex crypto exchange and mined 120,000 Bitcoins ($8 billion), to five years in prison.

According to Bloomberg, in a brief filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on October 15, U.S. prosecutors said Ilya Lichtenstein, who pleaded guilty last year, received a harsher prison sentence than his known wife and accomplice, Heather Morgan. He said he should take it. as rapper “Razzlekhan”

Prosecutors argued that a strong sentence would help deter young cybercriminals like Lichtenstein from attempting similar crimes, noting that the criminal’s online activities were still “normalized in a way that trivializes the impact on victims.”

Lichtenstein was discovered to be the mastermind responsible for the 2016 Bitfinex hack. He later mined a total of 120,000 Bitcoins (BTC) with the help of his wife, the government said. The couple is expected to be sentenced in November.

On October 11, prosecutors argued for an 18-month prison sentence for Morgan, who calls himself the “Gator of Wall Street.” Morgan, who pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy charges last year, provided “significant assistance” to the government.

Lichtenstein also cooperated in other criminal cases, preventing prosecutors from pressuring the judge to impose the maximum sentence. In February 2024, he testified as a government witness in a money laundering case involving a mixing service called Bitcoin Fog.

According to prosecutors, Lichtenstein and Morgan used sophisticated money laundering methods to cover their tracks, including withdrawing and depositing funds from unregulated crypto exchanges and darknet markets. They also used mixers and mixers like Bitcoin Fog, Helix, and ChipMixer to cover their financial tracks.

Morgan admitted to learning about her husband’s money laundering scheme and the previous Bitfinex heist in 2020. He then helped her hide the funds through a variety of methods, such as using the money to purchase non-fungible tokens, gold, and Walmart gift cards.