Billions of US dollars recovered in cryptocurrency theft

Bitcoin (BTC) is a cryptocurrency (a virtual currency) designed to act as money and a form of payment outside the control of any one person, group, or entity.

This removes the need for trusted third-party involvement (e.g., a mint or bank) in financial transactions

Last year, Lichtenstein raised his right hand to show he had no weapons in his hand and by extension his heart.

Read: Kwame Rugunda hands over Blockchain Association of Uganda

leadership

Then he placed his left hand on the bible in court promising to tell the whole truth and nothing less. After which he pleaded guilty in the case involving the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange being hacked in 2016.

His wife, Heather Morgan, was his accomplice. She aided and abetted his laundering the stolen cryptocurrency; she went by the alias ‘Razzlekhan’ to promote her hip hop music.

By the time the heist went down, the bitcoin was worth around $70m (£55.3m). It had risen in value to more than $4.5bn by the time Lichtenstein and Morgan were.

If that theft had happened today, at the current prices for the bitcoin, that figure ($4.5bn) would be doubled by the bitcoin’s worth.

The $3.6bn worth of assets recovered in the case was the biggest financial seizure in the Department of Justice's history, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said at the time.

“It’s important to send a message that you can’t commit these crimes with impunity, that there are consequences to them,” district judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said.

Lichtenstein, who has been cooling his heels in prison since his arrest in February 2022, was contrite about his crime.

By way of redemption, he hopes to apply his hacking skills to fight cybercrime after serving his sentence.

Morgan pleaded guilty last year to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. She is due to be sentenced in a matter of days on November 18.