WASHINGTON — The U.S. seized about $3.6 billion in Bitcoin stolen during a 2016 hack of the Bitfinex currency exchange — the largest financial seizure ever — and arrested two people, the Department of Justice said Tuesday.
Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife, Heather Morgan, were detained Tuesday morning and are scheduled to appear at federal court in Manhattan in the afternoon, the Justice Department said in a statement. The two — who appear to have had colorful social media accounts ahead of their arrests — allegedly conspired to launder 119,754 Bitcoin stolen after a hacker breached Bitfinex’s systems.
“Today’s arrests, and the Department’s largest financial seizure ever, show that cryptocurrency is not a safe haven for criminals,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement. “In a futile effort to maintain digital anonymity, the defendants laundered stolen funds through a labyrinth of cryptocurrency transactions.”
