The US Department of Justice has finally solved the mystery of the billions of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin that was stolen during the 2016 hack of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex. Heather Morgan, who claims herself as “a serial entrepreneur, prolific writer, irreverent comedic rapper, and investor in B2B software startups with strong growth potential,” has been arrested.
Morgan and her husband, Ilya Lichtenstein, were arrested yesterday morning for allegedly attempting to launder cryptocurrency related to the 2016 Bitfinex hack, which resulted in the loss of 119,756 Bitcoin (BTC) from the crypto exchange. During a court hearing in New York on Tuesday, the couple proclaimed their innocence and were released on multi-million dollar bonds.
The 119,756 BTC stolen from Bitfinex in August 2016 was worth $72 million at the time, but it is now worth more than $5.1 billion. People connected to the stolen currencies have occasionally transferred small amounts of BTC in multiple transactions since the 2016 hack, leaving the majority of the funds untouched.
According to the DoJ, 25,000 BTC of this transferred money was linked to financial accounts controlled by Lichtenstein and Morgan. After a search order permitted them to view files containing private keys to the wallet, special agents were able to get access to and seize more than 94,000 BTC (worth $3.6 billion at the time) from Morgan and Lichtenstein.
