In Bitfinex cryptocurrency heist charged access acknowledgment transaction 2

A Russian-American tech entrepreneur and his wife, an aspiring rapper, have reached a plea agreement over a scheme to launder billions of dollars in stolen cryptocurrency from one of the world’s largest virtual currency exchanges, according to court records.

The couple, Elijah Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, are scheduled for a hearing and argument before Judge Colleen Kollar-Kottle of Federal District Court in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 3, according to an entry added to the court schedule in the case on Friday.

The agenda entry did not include details of the plea agreement, only that a copy of it must be provided to Judge Kollar-Kottle along with other papers by July 27.

Attorneys for Mr. Lichtenstein and Ms. Morgan did not immediately respond to requests for comment, nor did the Department of Justice.

Mr. Lichtenstein, 35, and Ms. Morgan, 33, were charged in February 2022 with conspiring to launder 119,754 bitcoin worth $71 million when hackers stole them from the Hong Kong-based platform Bitfinex, in a 2016 heist that rocked the cryptocurrency world. The couple has not been charged with participating in the robbery.

The exchange hack was one of several that led to the theft of large amounts of cryptocurrency. The thefts, some of which significantly affected cryptocurrency values, underlined security weaknesses in bitcoin and other digital currencies.

Since these currencies move through decentralized computer networks that are not controlled by any single government or company, most trading takes place on largely unregulated exchanges that give consumers little information about their operations. The lack of regulation has created a host of problems in the virtual currency world.

Bitcoin’s value skyrocketed in the years between the Bitfinex robbery and the arrest of Mr. Lichtenstein and Ms. Morgan. In announcing the charges against the couple, officials said they confiscated $3.6 billion worth of currency from them in what was the Justice Department’s largest financial forfeiture ever. (Officials said the total value of stolen bitcoin had jumped to $4.5 billion by then.)

according to Court documentsA hacker who breached Bitfinex 2000 systems initiated a transaction to send the stolen currency to a digital wallet under Lichtenstein’s control. Prosecutors said that over a five-year period, some 25,000 digital tokens were moved from his wallet in a complex chain of transactions intended to disguise their provenance.

Prosecutors said the couple’s money laundering efforts included opening accounts under false names. moving stolen money in small amounts in thousands of transactions to avoid detection; use computers to automate their transactions; distribute funds via virtual currency exchanges; and use US business accounts to hide their illegal activity.

Prosecutors said Mr. Lichtenstein and Ms. Morgan used some of the stolen bitcoins to purchase gold, non-perishable tokens and prepaid debit cards. A $500 card purchased at Walmart was used to pay Uber and Hotels.com fees and to purchase a PlayStation, according to court documents.

Records showed that when the couple was arrested, they were living in a two-bedroom apartment on the top floor of a 42-story luxury building at Wallwater Street in Lower Manhattan.

Mr. Lichtenstein, who is nicknamed “Dutch,” holds dual US and Russian citizenship and describes himself as a technology entrepreneur, according to court documents.

Morgan has described herself on social media as a “serial entrepreneur” and a “comedy irreverent rapper” who goes by the name “Razelkhan”, and calls herself a “crocodile of Wall Street”.

She has also written magazine articles, including one for Forbes on how to “protect your business” as “cybercriminals and scammers are profiting from the disruptions caused by the pandemic.”

Suzanne C. Beachey contributed research.