US Prosecutors Ask Court to Green-Light Return of 95,000 Stolen Bitcoins to Bitfinex
US prosecutors have asked a federal judge to green-light the return of nearly 80% of the 119,754 bitcoins stolen in the 2016 hack of crypto exchange Bitfinex.
In a court filing Tuesday, prosecutors said the 94,643 bitcoins the government recovered from the original wallet used by the hacker, Ilya Lichtenstein, could be paid to Bitfinex as restitution in-kind if the court grants the go ahead. Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Satoshi Vision and Bitcoin Gold generated through several hard forks following the hack will also be sent to Bitfinex.
In November, Lichtenstein was sentenced to 5 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in 2023. His wife, Heather Morgan – better known by her rap moniker Razzlekhan – received 18- month sentence for helping Lichtenstein launder a portion of the hack proceeds. Both agreed to forfeit the stolen cryptocurrency as part of their plea agreements.
Returning the remaining 25,000 bitcoins will be more complicated.
In their filing, prosecutors said that, because Lichtenstein and Morgan tried to launder those coins through “a variety of complex and technologically sophisticated means, including laundering through extensive transactions on peel chains, non-compliant virtual currency exchanges, darknet markets, and mixers and tumblers , as well as combining the defendants’ business and personal accounts” they cannot be defined as “certain property” which was lost in the hack and must therefore be returned through an ancillary forfeiture proceeding.
