Ilya Lichtenstein, 34 years old, and his wife, Heather Morgan, 31, were both arrested without incident Tuesday morning in Manhattan, the department said. They have promoted themselves on social media as entrepreneurs with deep knowledge of tech and a love of travel.
Hong Kong-based digital-currency exchange Bitfinex said it was hacked in 2016, causing the price of bitcoin to sharply drop. At the time, the value of the stolen bitcoin was valued at around $70 million, officials said. The current value of the stolen bitcoin linked to the hack is valued today at about $4.5 billion. Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and his wife, Heather Morgan, 31, both of New York, New York, are scheduled to make their initial appearances in federal court today at 3:00 p.m. in Manhattan
The criminal complaint alleges that Lichtenstein and Morgan employed numerous sophisticated laundering techniques, including using fictitious identities to set up online accounts; utilizing computer programs to automate transactions, a laundering technique that allows for many transactions to take place in a short period of time; depositing the stolen funds into accounts at a variety of virtual currency exchanges and darknet markets and then withdrawing the funds, which obfuscates the trail of the transaction history by breaking up the fund flow; converting bitcoin to other forms of virtual currency, including anonymity-enhanced virtual currency (AEC), in a practice known as “chain hopping”; and using U.S.-based business accounts to legitimize their banking activity.
“In a methodical and calculated scheme, the defendants allegedly laundered and disguised their vast fortune,” said Chief Jim Lee of IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).
“Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan attempted to subvert legitimate commerce for their own nefarious purposes, operating with perceived anonymity. Today’s action demonstrates HSI’s commitment and ability to work with a collation of the willing to unravel these technical fraud schemes and identify the perpetrators, regardless of where they operate.” said Acting Executive Associate Director Steve Francis of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Who is Ilya Lichtenstein?
Technology entrepreneur, coder and investor. Interested in blockchain technology, automation, and big data. Founder of Endpass - a blockchain startup solving problems in decentralized identity and authentication. My expertise is in scaling B2B sales, automating business processes, and scaling outbound marketing. Previously, founder and CEO of MixRank, Y Combinator alum. Also, angel investor in promising startups and crypto technologies.
About (Dutch) Ilya Lichtenstein
Tech entrepreneur, explorer, and occasional magician.
Editor of Endpass a secure Ethereum wallet
·
2 Following
Connect with Dutch Ilya Lichtenstein
Dutch Ilya Lichtenstein’s Last Published Tweet Before His Arrest in Manhattan Today!
@unrealdutch
Human angel investor, web3 developer, serial entrepreneur. Prev: YC S11
Cloud Services & SolutionsNew York, NY
Joined November 2010
96 Following
804 Follower
Dutch Lichtenstein
@unrealdutch
·
Jan 4
How wild that billionaires who can do anything in the world choose to prioritize posting second rate memes on Twitter?
Marc Andreessen was his target!
Dutch Lichtenstein
@unrealdutch
Haven’t looked at
@dailydot
for a while…it’s a TikTok recap blog now? WTF? Why is so much “journalism” sourced from TikTok now?
1:18 PM · Jan 4, 2022·Twitter for iPhone
On Dec 29, He retweeted one of his wife’s tweets
Dutch Lichtenstein Retweeted
Heather R Morgan (rz k.eth)
·
I’m obsessed with documentation. Its one of my favorite things! Nothing like good
clear & concise
Who is Heather Morgan - The Mystery Woman
She Continued to Tweet until a few days – while Ilya ceased his social media posting exactly a month ago! What was the reason he stopped his social media activity? Did he suspect the jig was up and didn’t tell his wife? Or it was a ruse
The Last known tweet from Morgan that we were able to confirm was posted on Feb 5th 2022.
Razzlekhan AKA – Heather Morgan
The infamous Crocodile of Wall Street strikes again! More fearless and more shameless than ever before, she's taking on everyone from big software companies to healthcare to finance bros
The raunchy rapper with more pizzazz that Genghis Khan.
Because Razz has synesthesia, her art often resembles something in between an acid trip and a delightful nightmare. Definitely not for the faint of heart or easily offended, Razz likes to push the limits of what people are comfortable with. Her style has often been described as "sexy horror comedy," because of her fondness for combining dark and disturbing concepts with dirty jokes and gestures.
Just like her fearless entrepreneurial spirit and hacker mindset, Razz shamelessly explores new frontiers of art, pushing the limit of what's possible. Whether that leads to something wonderful or terrible is unclear; the only thing that's certain is it won't be boring or mediocre
Heather R Morgan (rzk.eth)
@HeatherReyhan
Serial entrepreneur SaaS Investor Razzlekhan = Surrealist Artist, Rapper & Fashion Designer with synesthesia Also Forbes writer
Media Personality Manhattan, NY salesfolk.com
Joined October 2011
2,357 Following
21.3K Followers
Heather R Morgan (rzk.eth)
@HeatherReyhan
Anyone else have “pandemic dreams?” Pre-vaccine I had nightmares about “forgetting my mask” & realizing it out in public in a crowd. Now, I have dreams asking people about their “vax status,” & telling people I’m “triple vax with Moderna.”
8:30 AM · Jan 30, 2022 from Manhattan, NY·Twitter for iPhone
My fucking theme song! #endometriosis #endoawareness
Heather R Morgan (rzk.eth)
@HeatherReyhan
·
Feb 5
My fucking theme song!
open spotify. com
Bleeding Buckets
Razzlekhan · Song · 2020
6:33 PM · Feb 5, 2022 from Manhattan, NY·Twitter for iPhone
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