Justice Department Says It Seized $3.6 Billion Worth of Bitcoin Stolen in 2016 Hack

Ilya Lichtenstein,

34 years outdated, and his spouse,

Heather Morgan,

31, have been each arrested with out incident Tuesday morning in Manhattan, the division stated. They’ve promoted themselves on social media as entrepreneurs with deep data of tech and a love of journey.

In response to court docket paperwork, the suspects allegedly conspired to launder practically 120,000 bitcoin stolen from Bitfinex’s platform in 2016 after a hacker breached the trade’s methods and initiated greater than 2,000 unauthorized transactions. The transactions included using pc applications to quickly automate bitcoin actions and deposits to attempt to conceal their origin, with a number of the funds ultimately touchdown in monetary accounts tied to the couple, federal prosecutors stated.

“Right now’s arrests, and the division’s largest monetary seizure ever, present that cryptocurrency will not be a protected haven for criminals,” stated Deputy Lawyer Basic

Lisa Monaco.

“In a futile effort to take care of digital anonymity, the defendants laundered stolen funds by means of a labyrinth of cryptocurrency transactions.”

On the couple’s look in Manhattan court docket Tuesday, U.S. Justice of the Peace Decide Debra Freeman set bond at $5 million for Mr. Lichtenstein and $3 million for Ms. Morgan, requiring that their dad and mom’ houses be posted as safety. The choose additionally ordered that they not have gadgets with web entry and prohibited them from conducting cryptocurrency transactions.

Anirudh Bansal, a lawyer for Mr. Lichtenstein and Ms. Morgan, instructed the choose that his purchasers had been conscious of the federal government’s investigation since November and hadn’t tried to flee the nation. Mr. Bansal declined to remark additional.

Mr. Lichtenstein and Ms. Morgan face prices referring to conspiracy to commit cash laundering and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. They weren’t charged with finishing up the hack of Bitfinex. The Justice Division’s investigation is ongoing, officers stated.

Hong Kong-based digital-currency trade Bitfinex stated it was hacked in 2016, inflicting the value of bitcoin to sharply drop. On the time, the worth of the stolen bitcoin was valued at round $70 million, officers stated.

Bitcoin, like many digital currencies, can fluctuate wildly in worth and has soared enormously since 2016. The $3.6 billion recovered by the Justice Division is the worth of the bitcoin on the time of seizure, which occurred final week, officers stated. General the present worth of the stolen bitcoin linked to the hack is valued right this moment at about $4.5 billion, officers stated, however solely about 94,000 of the roughly 119,754 stolen bitcoin have been recovered.

Bitcoin is a well-liked sort of so-called cryptocurrency, a sort of digital forex that exists as open-source pc code and that’s maintained by the operations of an enormous world-wide community of computer systems. Officers stated the truth that blockchain—the inalterable ledger that information bitcoin transactions—is public was useful of their investigation.

Ari Redbord, a former senior Treasury Division official now on the blockchain analytics agency TRM Labs, stated the arrests present the growing capabilities of investigators to hint cryptocurrency flows, together with years after illicit transactions occurred.

“Because the obfuscation methods evolve, so do the instruments authorities have to trace them,” stated Mr. Redbord. “The blockchain is ceaselessly.”

The case additionally helps legislation enforcement perceive the methods hackers, terrorists and different criminals are utilizing in digital-currency markets to attempt to transfer illicit funds, he stated.

The Justice Division created a Nationwide Cryptocurrency Enforcement Group final October to prosecute criminals that depend on cryptocurrency and get well illicit proceeds.

Final 12 months, authorities have been in a position to claw again about $2.3 million in bitcoin that was paid by Colonial Pipeline Co. to a Russian ransomware gang that hacked the most important conduit, inflicting a shutdown that lasted for days on the pipeline that runs from the Gulf Coast to New Jersey.

The couple arrested Tuesday, Mr. Lichtenstein and Ms. Morgan, allegedly used their laundered proceeds to buy quite a lot of materials items and belongings, together with gold, nonfungible tokens and

Walmart

present playing cards, officers stated.

Solely a small portion of the stolen cash had been spent by the point of their arrest, in line with officers.

Federal prosecutors unsuccessfully requested at Tuesday’s continuing that the Ms. Morgan and Mr. Lichtenstein be held with out bond, saying they have been a flight danger.

Throughout a search of the couple’s Manhattan dwelling this month, federal brokers discovered a bag of burner telephones, $40,000 in money and a tool with an digital file that had faux identities used to open bitcoin accounts, Assistant U.S. Lawyer Maggie Lynaugh stated. One other file discovered within the search, she stated, had info on buy passports on the darkish internet.

The couple can be believed to have entry to $330 million in bitcoin that the federal authorities hasn’t positioned, Ms. Lynaugh stated.

Ms. Morgan and Mr. Lichtenstein, who additionally goes by the nickname Dutch, have promoted themselves as veteran tech and crypto entrepreneurs, in line with their social-media posts. Their enterprises embrace co-founding Demandpath, a venture-capital fund; Endpass, a cryptocurrency pockets; and SalesFolk, a advertising and marketing agency.

All three corporations have been utilized by the couple to justify a few of their cryptocurrency transactions, Christopher Janczewski, particular agent for the Inside Income Service’s prison investigation division, stated in a court docket submitting.

On Medium, a publishing platform, Mr. Lichtenstein’s profile describes him as a “tech entrepreneur, explorer, and occasional magician.” His profile on LinkedIn, the skilled networking platform, says he’s a “coder and investor focused on blockchain expertise, automation, and massive information.”

Ms. Morgan’s profile on Forbes.com, the place her articles are posted beneath the location’s ForbesWomen banner, says she is a global economist and serial entrepreneur specializing in software program improvement.

“When she’s not reverse-engineering black markets to think about higher methods to fight fraud and cybercrime, she enjoys rapping and designing streetwear style,” her Forbes.com bio reads. Her LinkedIn web page hyperlinks to a private web site, by which she refers to herself as rapper Razzlekhan, with a “fearless entrepreneurial spirit and hacker mindset.”

A pal of Ms. Morgan stated the couple, whereas planning to purchase a $2 million condominium in New York, didn’t reside a lavish life-style and weren’t splashy spenders. The pal stated their wedding ceremony in November was modest and the couple stated they typically used air miles to fly.

Bitfinex, the trade platform that was hacked in 2016, stated it had been cooperating with the Justice Division since its investigation started and stated it could “observe acceptable authorized processes to ascertain our rights to a return of the stolen bitcoin.” Updates on the return of stolen bitcoin can be forthcoming, the corporate stated.

Some monetary crime consultants stated the seizure and others prior to now a number of years present that cryptocurrency markets might be more and more monitored by legislation enforcement. Prime law-enforcement officers whose companies examine cryptocurrency crimes, together with the U.S. Secret Service, have stated the blockchain ledger gives a digital path for his or her probes, however have urged coverage makers to strengthen reporting guidelines on the identities of customers.

Corrections & Amplifications
Ari Redbord is a former senior Treasury Division official now on the blockchain analytics agency TRM Labs. An earlier model of this text incorrectly spelled his final identify as Redboard. (Corrected on Feb. 8)

—James Fanelli contributed to this text.

Write to Dustin Volz at dustin.volz@wsj.com and Ian Talley at ian.talley@wsj.com