Alexandria Sheriff’s Office
The so-called Hipster Crypto Couple admitted Thursday to pulling off the largest cryptocurrency heist in history, making off with some $4.5 billion.
Ilya Lichtenstein, 35, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, a federal count carrying up to 20 years in prison, according to the Department of Justice. His wife, 33-year-old Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering conspiracy and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, each of which carries a maximum term of five years behind bars.
The pair were arrested last year for the 2016 hack of Bitfinex, a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange. Roughly 120,000 Bitcoin had been stolen; the feds were able to recover about 95,000 of those, worth about $3.6 billion. In the interim, the government has been able to seize another $475 million tied to the hack.