A pair accused of cash laundering in connection to a 2016 hack of the crypto trade Bitfinex have reached a plea deal, Reuters mentioned on July 21.
Senior Choose Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has reportedly ordered prosecutors to file a replica of the plea deal from the accused, Heather Morgan and Ilya Lichtenstein, by July 27. A plea listening to will then happen in a Washington court docket on Aug. 3.
Reuters primarily based its data on present court docket filings. Although it didn’t establish the doc in query, a abstract of a July 20 submitting signifies that the Justice of the Peace case for each people has been closed pending deadlines, motions, and excludables.
Morgan and Lichtenstein had been arrested in February 2022 and had been accused of laundering roughly 100,000 BTC from a hack on Bitfinex six years earlier.
Case continues to develop
CryptoSlate beforehand reported that the couple allegedly laundered 119,756 Bitcoin (BTC). The stolen funds had been value near $3.6 billion on the time of the seizure, although they had been value $4.5 billion when the story emerged in February 2022. The above quantity is as soon as once more value $3.6 billion at present market costs.
Prosecutors charged the couple with conspiracy to commit cash laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the US. These expenses carry potential most sentences of 20 years in jail and 5 years in jail, respectively.
Reuters mentioned in its present report that prosecutors now intention to drive Morgan and Lichtenstein to forfeit property value about $3 billion, primarily based on the present spot costs of varied cryptocurrencies. By the way, the demanded property embody not simply crypto, but additionally gold cash “excavated and recovered by regulation enforcement” in California.
Morgan and Lichtenstein maintained a public presence. Morgan had an internet rap-hop profession below the alias “Razzlekhan.” Lichtenstein acted as a serial entrepreneur and in addition ran a YouTube channel as an novice magician.
The couple’s off-beat private life and alleged high-profile crimes have led Netflix to announce a sequence primarily based on the 2 individauls. That sequence has not but been launched.
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