US authorities seize $3.6 billion stolen from Bitfinex exchange in 2016

The U.S. Department of Justice announced the largest confiscation of funds in history: more than 94,000 bitcoins were confiscated from the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange in 2016. New York couple was arrested on money laundering charges.

Let me remind you that in early August 2016, Bitfinex, then considered the third most popular exchange in the world, was attacked. As a result, the resource lost 119,754 bitcoins, provoking a noticeable fluctuation in cryptocurrency rates.

However, if in 2016 the damage from the attack was estimated at about 72 million US dollars, since then the price of bitcoin has changed significantly. Now Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco has called the confiscation of 94,000 bitcoins the largest in history, as the stolen cryptocurrency is now worth about $3.6 billion.

According to court documents, 34-year-old Russian and US citizen Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife, 31-year-old US citizen Heather Morgan, were arrested in connection with the Bitfinex hack in New York. Officials believe that Liechtenstein played a key role in laundering 119,754 bitcoins stolen from the exchange, which were transferred to other cryptocurrency addresses after the hack in more than 2,000 transactions.

Over the past five years, about 25,000 stolen BTC have been laundered through a complex scheme that included:

1. using fictitious identities to create accounts;
2. use of software for transaction automation;
3. depositing stolen funds into accounts on various exchanges and dark web marketplaces (including AlphaBay) and then withdrawing them to cover up the tracks;
4. Purchase of Uber, Hotels.com, PlayStation and Walmart gift cards;
5. conversion of bitcoins to other cryptocurrencies with increased anonymity;
6. using US business accounts to legalize banking.

Law enforcement officers are sure that Liechtenstein was behind all this activity, as well as his wife, in whose name some financial and bank accounts were also opened. In essence, the 94,000 bitcoins seized by the authorities are the funds that were still in the Liechtenstein cryptocurrency accounts at the present time.

The Justice Department said it obtained permission to seize the funds after the FBI obtained a search warrant linked to one of Liechtenstein’s cloud storage accounts. A file was found there containing cryptocurrency addresses and their corresponding private keys, which provided access to the funds stored there. The authorities explain that almost all of these addresses were “directly linked to the [Bitfinex] hack.”

Liechtenstein and Morgan are charged with conspiracy to launder money, which suggests a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and conspiracy to commit fraud, which also suggests a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison.

Let me remind you that we also wrote that FBI seized $ 2.3 million in cryptocurrency from partner of hack groups REvil and GandCrab, and also that Cryptocurrency Scammers Earn $ 7.7 Billion in 2021.