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Razzlekhan’s Husband Admits to Being Hacker in Infamous 2016 Bitfinex Attack: CNBC
Ilya Lichtenstein was arrested alongside his wife Heather Morgan last year on money-laundering charges tied to the proceeds from the exploit.
Updated Aug 7, 2023, 3:12 p.m. Published Aug 3, 2023, 4:01 p.m.
New York resident Ilya Lichtenstein, the husband of Heather Morgan, an entrepreneur and rapper known as “Razzlekhan,” revealed himself as the hacker who executed a multimillion-dollar exploit of crypto exchange Bitfinex in 2016 while pleading guilty to money laundering conspiracy charges at a hearing at the U.S. District Court in Washington on Thursday, CNBC reported.
Until now, the hacker’s identity has remained one of the most elusive facts of the case.
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“Bitfinex diligently worked with the U.S. Department of Justice to identify the perpetrators of the hack, recover the stolen bitcoin, and bring the hackers to justice,” an external spokesperson for Bitfinex told CoinDesk. “After seven years, those efforts have come to fruition.”
Lichtenstein, 35, conspired to launder 119,754 bitcoins (BTC), worth roughly $71 million at the time of the hack in 2016, alongside his wife, according to U.S. officials. Morgan pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the U.S., CNBC reported.
UPDATE (Aug. 3, 2023, 18:54 UTC): Adds that Morgan pleaded guilty.
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