They ’re rich . They ’re unearthly . And they ’re potentially headed to prison house .
By now , you may have heard something about them : 34 - yr - former Ilya Lichtenstein , a treble Russia - U.S. citizen , and his wife , Heather Morgan , 31 , are the awkward NYCpower couplethat federal authorities say tried to attract off one of the biggest money - laundering scheme in history . The duo have rightfully been brand the weirdo Bonnie and Clyde of the crypto world after the twosome werearrestedearly Tuesday morning and charge in connection to a plot to launder $ 4.5 billion in Bitcoin .
But what form of mass would try such a thing ? consort to the feds : these hoi polloi . To say that Lichtenstein , also known by his byname “ Dutch , ” and Morgan , are not your distinctive cybercriminal genius would be something of an understatement . Hackers are nerds , certain . But these mass … uh , just do n’t strike you as digital Danny Oceans , for numerous reasons .
Photo: OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP (Getty Images)
While the couple remain something of a mystery , information continues to come forth about their career , personal lives , and what they ’re accused of . permit ’s take a look .
THE COUPLE
It ’s unreadable how and when the dynamic duet first meet , though you may sort of see why the chemistry would work . She has the persona of Napoleon Dynamite . He ’s pay off that Zuckerberg muscularity . Together , the ego - accept weirdos appear to have led a loaded , hipster - smart lifestyle but , according to Union police detective , it hid a twofold - life in which they worked firmly to cover up a jumbo fiscal criminal offence .
Reports have suggest the two have known each other for at least a decennary , spend a significant period of time in Silicon Valley before becoming engaged sometime in 2019 . Theywere marriedlast November .
" I am a walk fucking rotation . " -John McAfeepic.twitter.com/L6tDCZqRJX
Screenshot: Lucas Ropek/YouTube
— Heather " Razzlekhan " Morgan ( @HeatherReyhan)May 18 , 2016
Professionally , they styled themselves as entrepreneurs . Lichtenstein co - found a marketing inauguration , MixRank , in 2011 , only a twelvemonth after graduate from the University of Wisconsin - Madison . Forbes reportsthat one of the company ’s initial backers was technical school billionaire Mark Cuban , though Cuban is sound out to have sold his shares in the company sometime between 2012 and 2015 . YouTubevideosfrom 2015 , a little more than a year before the money was stolen , show Lichtenstein giving talks about the benefit of his house ’s advertising services and waxing eloquent about how to be an entrepreneur . agree tohis LinkedIn , he later institute a crypto - ground cybersecurity house , EndPass , which he ran for several age . His visibility says he presently work out as an advisor to early - degree startups and also does other - stage angel endue for decentralized projects .
Morgan , meanwhile , is the founder and CEO of Salesfolk , a inauguration that specialise in “ frigid call ” merchandising electronic mail , which she launch sometime around 2013 . On itshomepage , the company boasts tie with over 470 different companies , including the the likes of of ride - share giantLyftand Jack Dorsey’sBlock(formerly call Square ) . Lichtenstein appears to have also lick at Salesfolk , as an “ advisor . ”
A still from one of Morgan’s delirium-inducing rap videos.Screenshot: Lucas Ropek/YouTube
At some spot , they moved across the body politic and into a rented two - sleeping accommodation Manhattancondo , with a $ 1 million price tatter . TikTokvideosshow the yoke hanging out there , celebratingChristmas together , talking totheir computerized axial tomography , and engaging in an categorization of other distinctive youthful millennian - duo activities .
Not so typical are those rap picture everybody ’s talking about .
Much has already beenwrittenabout Morgan ’s apparent passion for creating her own bizarre , ungainly hip record hop . Under the name “ Razzlekhan , ” the incriminate criminal spent the last few geezerhood produce singles with names like “ Gilfalicious , ” “ Pho King Badd Bhech ” and “ Versace Bedouin , ” while also rap nonstop on her sociable , where no topic is too cringe or boring to be mix into a brain - numbing rime . She raps about thecoronavirus . She freestyles aboutGameStop . She throw off downaboutnot being capable to retrieve her AirPods . Morgan calls this whole schtick “ sexy revulsion funniness ” rap , though others have come up with decidedly more colorful adjectivesfor it .
Screenshot: Lucas Ropek/Bitfinex
If we are to believe federal detective , these two rich , awkward nerds , spent the last half - decade trying to cover up an enormous crime , the likes of which have go to billions of dollar in losses for investor all over the world .
idk much about crypto security measure but this person should n’t have been able to steal 4.5 billion dollars of itpic.twitter.com/i86nu7naKK
— jack wagner ( @jackdwagner)February 8 , 2022
Screenshot: Lucas Ropek
THE EXCHANGE
That crime initiate in August of 2016 , when Bitfinex , one of the public ’s largest crypto exchange , sustain a gigantic hack . Someone ( it ’s not wholly absolved who ) break the Hong Kong company ’s web , managing to worm into its system . “ Today we discovered a protection falling out that take us to stem all trading on Bitfinex , as well as halt all digital token deposits to and withdrawals from Bitfinex , ” the troupe franticallyannouncedon its web log . Not long later , word emerged that some money had been stolen during the incident . in reality , a whole spate of money .
At the prison term of the nag , the thievery of 119,754 BTC from the chopine ’s lacuna was valued at some $ 71 million . Today , due to Bitcoin ’s market ascension , the ill - gotten amplification are estimated to be deserving over $ 4.5 billion , as of February .
news show of the hack sent shockwaves through the crypto residential district , temporarily tankingthe toll of Bitcoin .
So far , federal officials have been measured not to entail the pair in the actual hacking of the interchange , so it ’s not totally open who is to blame for the encroachment into Bitfinex ’s networks . In a case like this , hacking contractors could potentially be procured — but the criminal complaint does n’t clarify anything about the billet . We simply do n’t know who is responsible , currently .
THE CRIME
What law enforcement officials say is known is that after the money was steal , it was transfer to a crypto wallet later institute to be insure by Lichtenstein . The crimes for which the couple is now charged ( money laundering and conspiracy to goldbrick the U.S. ) stem from their effort to launder the money out of that wallet and into their own accounts .
Whoever the drudge was , they stole the crypto in a series of 2,000 unauthorized minutes , station the 119,754 BTC to an outside wallet , dubbed in court document “ wallet 1CGa4s . ” Once the money had been shift there , like many other money laundering schemes , Dutch and Razzle are accused of using a byzantine connection of online business relationship and proceedings to funnel the steal investment company around the net to shed authority off the trail .
In court filings , federal investigators have bring out that they get on to the duet ’s ruse comparatively early in the investigating . The felonious complaint reads :
This shuffling , which created a twisting bit of transactions , appeared to be designed to hide the path of the slip BTC , make it unmanageable for jurisprudence enforcement to trace the monetary resource . Despite these efforts , as excuse further below , U.S. authorities hunt the steal BTC to multiple accounts controlled by ILYA “ DUTCH ” LICHTENSTEIN , a Russian - U.S. internal residing in New York , and his married woman HEATHER MORGAN .
As can be seen in the graph below , the two are accused of using a mob of online accounts to hide out the traces of their thievery , as they moved money around through a across-the-board range of virtual up-to-dateness exchanges , hop to obscure the lead of their activities .
Also critical to the pair ’s criminal scheme was the employment of darknet markets to attempt to burst up the chain of activity tie to the steal crypto . In particular , the couple used accounts onAlphaBay , the well - known dark web marketplace that hosts everything from drug - sellers to malware statistical distribution but , more relevantly , can operate as a room to obfuscate the course of various fiscal transactions . The twosome put in some of the stolen pecuniary resource in AlphaBay account , before withdrawing them and relaying them to crypto interchange accounts all over the human race , Union authorities aver .
Ultimately , despite all the complexity , the distich may have not been allthat greatat money laundering , actually . Bloomberg ’s Matt Levinwritesthat the yoke could n’t have been very good at what they were doing since a majority of the stolen money never left the 1CGa4s wallet where it initially landed .
Similarly , law enforcement seem to have take hold of on to what the couple was doing in a comparatively short period of time . Investigators with the FBI and the IRS Criminal Investigation Cyber Crime Unit used blockchain analysis tools to in the end unweave the tapis of deception allegedly spin by the two crooked fan . In this hebdomad ’s reprehensible complaint , officials state :
LICHTENSTEIN and MORGAN employed legion money laundering technique , include : ( 1 ) using story set up with fabricated identities ; ( 2 ) moving the steal investment firm in a serial of small amounts , sum M of proceedings , as play off to moving the funds all at once or in larger chunks ; ( 3 ) employ computer programs to automate transactions , a laundering technique that allow for many proceedings to take piazza in a short time period of time ; ( 4 ) layering the steal funds by situate them into accounts at a diverseness of VCEs and darknet markets and then draw the funds , which obfuscates the trail of the dealings history by split up the fund flow ;
And on it goes .
The seizure of the funds from Lichtenstein ’s 1CGa4s notecase — some 94,000 BTC , tantamount to $ 3.6 billion at the time of the indictment — apparently represents the singlelargestfinancial gaining control in the history of the U.S. Justice Department . That fact alone makes the tarradiddle famed . But the fact that it ’s also tied to such coloured , goofy - ass operators ensures that somewhere out there flocks of movie producer are currently rubbing their hands together , diagram how to adjust this whole affair and make a killing .
“ Today ’s hitch , and the department ’s largest financial capture ever , show that cryptocurrency is not a safe haven for criminals , ” tell Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco after the couple ’s arrest on Tuesday . “ In a futile effort to maintain digital anonymity , the defendant wash stolen cash in hand through a labyrinth of cryptocurrency transactions . Thanks to the punctilious work of constabulary enforcement , the department once again present how it can and will surveil the money , no matter what form it takes . ”
Lichtenstein and Morgan latterly had their first court coming into court , at which the judgeallowedan emergency purchase order by the feds asking that the couple ’s bail be denied . If they are convict , the yoke could pass decades in prison house .
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