[BreachExchange] Justice Dept. Announces $3.6B Crypto Seizure, 2 Arrests

[Terrell Byrd]

https://www.securityweek.com/justice-dept-announces-36b-crypto-seizure-2-arrests

The Justice Department announced Tuesday its largest-ever financial seizure
— more than $3.5 billion — and the arrests of a New York couple accused of
conspiring to launder billions of dollars in cryptocurrency stolen from the
2016 hack of a virtual currency exchange.

Federal law enforcement officials said they recovered roughly $3.6 billon
in cryptocurrency linked to the hack of Bitfinex, a virtual currency
exchange whose systems were breached nearly six years ago.

Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein, a citizen of Russia and the United States, and
his wife, Heather Morgan, were arrested in Manhattan on Tuesday morning,
accused of relying on various sophisticated techniques to launder the
stolen money and conceal the transactions. They face federal charges of
conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United
States. It was unclear if they had lawyers or people who could speak on
their behalf.

They were in custody pending an appearance in Manhattan’s federal court
later Tuesday.

The stolen cryptocurrency, valued at $71 million at the time of the theft,
is now valued at $4.5 billion, officials said.

The couple were not charged in the Bitfinex hack, which resulted in more
than 2,000 unauthorized transactions. But prosecutors said they received
stolen bitcoin into a digital wallet they controlled and used money
laundering techniques such as setting up accounts with fictitious
identities to hide their activities and the movement of the money.

Millions of dollars of the transactions were cashed out through bitcoin
ATMs and used to purchase gold and non-fungible tokens as well as more
mundane items like Walmart gift cards for personal expenses, prosecutors
said.

Justice Department officials say that though the proliferation of
cryptocurrency and virtual currency exchanges represent innovation, the
trend has also been accompanied by money laundering, ransomware and other
crimes

“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. Thanks to the meticulous work of
law enforcement, the department once again showed how it can and will
follow the money, no matter the form it takes.”
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