30s Summary

Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan and Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein were sentenced to 18 months and five years in prison respectively for their involvement in laundering money from the 2016 Bitfinex hack. Authorities claim they laundered about 20% of the stolen bitcoin. Morgan pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the U.S., expressing regret for her actions. On the other hand, Lichtenstein admitted to the theft. The authorities allege the couple used various methods to launder the money, including using darknet markets and cryptocurrency mixing services.

Full Article

Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan, involved in laundering money from the 2016 Bitfinex hack, has been handed an 18-month prison sentence. Her partner in crime, Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein, was the man behind the actual hack and was given a five-year sentence last week. Authorities say they laundered around a fifth of the swiped bitcoin.

Heather, also known by her former rapping name Razzlekahn, seems pretty remorseful for her dodgy dealings, saying, “I am extremely sorry and deeply regret the choices I made. I used my time and energy to do harm instead of good, and I’m ashamed of that.” Ouch!

The judge, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, wasn’t so sympathetic, stating clearly that Heather’s actions involved “extensive planning.” She continued, “You were true partners in this laundering scheme … You did not stop voluntarily but stopped when you got arrested.”

The couple got nicked in February 2022. Ilya straight-up confessed to the theft and Heather pled guilty to money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Pretty serious stuff. Heather argues she didn’t know what was happening until after the dirty deed was done.

Get this: the authorities claim the couple used all sorts of sneaky methods to hide where they were putting the cashed-out tokens. Some of it went into darknet markets, they changed up the stolen currency into other tokens (“chain hopping”), used cryptocurrency mixing services, turned some assets into gold coins, and tried to make it look legit by using U.S. business banking accounts.

And there you have it, folks – the price you pay for trying to outsmart the system.