Ilya Lichtenstein made his admission during a court hearing presided over by District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly. He claimed to have organized the Bitfinex hack, which involved withdrawing 119,756 bitcoins from the exchange’s wallets. Liechtenstein faces up to 20 years in prison.
Lichtenstein’s wife, Heather Morgan, said she did not know about the hacking until early 2020. She thought her husband was getting money from drug dealing or tax evasion. That being said, Repersha has gained popularity for her songs about investing. She faces up to 5 years in prison for “defrauding the state”.
The confession was made as part of a deal with the investigation. The couple also agreed to turn over $73 million to authorities. Interestingly, according to Morgan, when they traveled to Kazakhstan and Ukraine, she thought it was just traveling, but in her opinion, her husband was then involved in other crimes.
Recall that the couple was arrested in early 2022. Police seized more than 94,000 BTC worth $3.6 billion, and the total value of bitcoins stolen from Bitfinex was $4.5 billion.