US seizes nearly 100 thousand stolen Bitcoins: $ 4.5 billion fits in a 'USB'

US government officials have also arrested Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and his wife, Heather Morgan, 31, who are currently living in New York (USA). The pair are expected to appear in federal court for the first time on the same day of their arrest. If proven guilty, the couple faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for money laundering, and a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison for fraud.

Authorities accused the pair of attempting to launder 119,754 Bitcoins that were stolen from Bitfinex's platform, after a hacker breached the exchange's systems and executed more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions. Prosecutors allege that the hackers sent the stolen Bitcoins to Lichtenstein's digital wallet.

The stolen Bitcoins were stored by 34-year-old Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife, Heather Morgan, in a "USB", which is actually a Ledger cold wallet dedicated to storing cryptocurrencies.

Officials said they were able to seize more than 94,000 Bitcoins, worth about $3.6 billion at the time of seizure. According to the agency, the total amount of Bitcoin stolen is now worth around $4.5 billion.

'Today, federal law enforcement proves once again that we can track money through blockchain. We will not allow cryptocurrencies to become a safe haven for laundering. money or a lawless place in our financial system," Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite Jr. said in a statement.

Cryptocurrency platforms have faced a number of hacks and scams in recent months. According to data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, fraudsters managed to steal $14 billion worth of cryptocurrency by 2021. Most recently, Wormhole, a popular blockchain bridge, has a function blockchain networking capabilities Ethereum and Solana, lost around $320 million in a hack earlier this month.

Kareem Winters

Update 09 February 2022