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US prosecutors are advocating for a five-year prison sentence for Ilya Lichtenstein, who pleaded guilty to stealing 120,000 Bitcoin from Bitfinex in 2016. Lichtenstein could receive up to 20 years, but prosecutors argue for leniency due to his lack of criminal history and cooperation in other investigations. They also asked for an 18-month sentence for his wife, Heather Morgan, a partner in the crime. They asserted that while Lichtenstein laundered only 25,111 of the stolen Bitcoin, he continued other hack and fraud attempts. The couple is asked to return the confiscated cryptocurrency assets worth over $6 billion.

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US prosecutors are suggesting a five-year jail term for the guy who confessed to nicking 120,000 Bitcoin from the Bitfinex cryptocurrency trading platform back in 2016.

On October 15, the prosecutors asked a court in Washington, DC to give Ilya Lichtenstein less than the 20 years he could have gotten after he admitted to being part of the money laundering scheme.

They reckon he should get a break because he didn’t have any previous criminal record and has been really helpful with a bunch of other investigations.

Earlier this month, they also asked the court to cut down the sentence for Lichtenstein’s wife and partner in crime, Heather Morgan, to 18 months. This was because she also helped out with the investigations after they laundered the stolen digital dough.

According to prosecutors, Lichtenstein’s sentence ought to be lighter because he ‘cleaned’ only about 25,111 out of the possible 120,000 Bitcoin — which was worth $71 million at the time. It also seems his attempts to erase any damning evidence didn’t really mess up the investigation too much.

Even so, they want him to get a longer sentence than Morgan because he spent months planning the whole thing. On top of that, he didn’t stop at one heist, trying his hand at other hack jobs and frauds, pinching another $200,000 from a different cryptocurrency exchange.

The prosecutors said his behavior is part of a troubling trend of young tech-savvy crooks and giving them a slap on the wrist might undermine the serious effects on their victims. They believe a heftier sentence could discourage similar crimes in the future, showing that this sort of crime is a big deal.

They also emphasized that while Lichtenstein and Morgan had helped the police retrieve some of the stolen funds, it took law enforcement getting involved for this to happen, not any feelings of guilt on their part.

Prosecutors are asking the court to get both of them to return the coin assets the government confiscated from Lichtenstein’s crypto wallet, to pay back Bitfinex. His wallet has about 95,000 Bitcoin, 117,400 Bitcoin Cash, 117,400 Bitcoin Satoshi Vision, and 118,100 Bitcoin Gold in it, collectively worth more than $6 billion.

Initially, it was thought that Lichtenstein and Morgan only laundered the money from the hack, but later, Lichtenstein owned up to being the hacker too.

Lichtenstein is set to meet his fate in court on November 14, while Morgan will be sentenced the following day.

Source: Cointelegraph