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Record-breaking $5bn in Stolen Crypto Seized
The largest ever Bitcoin confiscation saw the US department of justice seize 120,000 coins.
In a record-breaking crypto seizure, two people were arrested and $5 billion worth of Bitcoin were recovered this week as hackers attempted to launder the money obtained through a 2016 heist.
Originating from a hack almost six years ago on crypto exchange platform Bitfinex, the funds were originally valued at $71 million but increased exponentially along with the proliferate increase in Bitcoin’s value.
The attack saw the hacker breach the platform and make over 2,000 unauthorised transactions, funneling the stolen money into into a digital wallet allegedly run by Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, of New York.
The seizure is a statement of intent from authorities that crypto is no longer as viable a means of income for launderers as it once was.
A sentiment echoed by Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite Jr, who said the seizure was proof the government “will not allow cryptocurrency to be a safe haven for money laundering or a zone of lawlessness within our financial system.”
Lichtenstein and his wife, Heather Morgan, 31, are accused of laundering about 25,000 of the stolen Bitcoin through various accounts over the past five years, using fake identities and converting their Bitcoin into other digital currencies as a means of covering their tracks.
The criminal probe has seen investigators from Washington DC, New York, Chicago and Ansbach, Germany collaborate.
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In a statement, Bifinex said it was “pleased” that the stolen funds had been recovered.
Following the charges of conspiracy to defraud the US and conspiracy to commit money laundering, Lichtenstein and Morgan could face up to 25 years in prison following the record-breaking crypto seizure.
This is the second large seizure by the recently-established National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team at the Justice Department, with the team seizing $2.3m in cryptocurrency last year – the ransom paid by the Colonial Pipeline company to end the high-profile cyberattack.
The UK is arguably not been as spartan in its approach to illicit cryptocurrency, with stats released last month revealing the UK’s police forces have seized £322 million worth of cryptocurrencies over the past five years, new figures show.
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