Federal authorities confiscated $3.6 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) stolen from crypto exchange Bitfinex in 2016.
US authorities arrested two people in New York on charges of conspiring to launder proceeds from the Bitfinex hack. It was stated that the married couple, Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, will appear in court.
At the time of the attack, the value of 120,000 Bitcoins stolen was $60 million.
It was stated that the stolen Bitcoins were moved to Lichtenstein’s wallet. About 25,000 of Bitcoin have been transferred in the last five years. The remaining 94,000 BTC remained in Lichtenstein’s wallet.
The following statements were included in the press release:
“After the execution of court-authorized search warrants for online accounts controlled by Lichtenstein and Morgan, special agents gained access to files in an online account controlled by Lichtenstein.
These files contained the private keys needed to access the digital wallet that directly received the stolen funds from Bitfinex, allowing private agents to legally seize and recover more than 94,000 bitcoins stolen from Bitfinex. The recovered bitcoin was worth over $3.6 billion at the time of the seizure.”
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