{"id":38801,"date":"2023-07-21T16:50:09","date_gmt":"2023-07-21T20:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/news\/husband-wife-crypto-couple-reach-plea-deal-in-4-5-billion-bitcoin-heist\/"},"modified":"2023-07-21T16:50:11","modified_gmt":"2023-07-21T20:50:11","slug":"husband-wife-crypto-couple-reach-plea-deal-in-4-5-billion-bitcoin-heist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=38801","title":{"rendered":"Husband-wife \u2018crypto-couple\u2019 reach plea deal in $4.5 billion Bitcoin heist"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The husband and wife \u201ccrypto couple\u201d charged in connection with a $4.5 billion bitcoin heist in 2016\u00a0 have reached a plea agreement with prosecutors, according to a court filing on Friday.<\/p>\n

The couple, Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, are slated to appear for a plea hearing in federal district court in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 3, according to the court filing.<\/p>\n

\n

Details of the deal were not included in the court filing or docket. Messages left with the defendants\u2019 attorneys weren\u2019t immediately returned and a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney\u2019s office in DC declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Lichtenstein, 35, and Morgan, 33, faced up to 25 years in federal prison when they were first\u00a0 charged with money laundering and fraud following their arrests in February 2022.<\/p>\n

The pair were busted after investigators found $3.6 billion in bitcoin that had been stolen in a hack of the Bitfinex trading platform in 2016 in crypto wallets the couple controlled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the time of the heist, the bitcoin was worth $71 million, but had skyrocketed in value to $4.5 billion at the time of their arrest.<\/p>\n

One of the key investigative questions revolves around what role, if any, the couple played in the initial hack. Neither has been charged with perpetrating the hack itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The couple\u2019s arrest, coupled with Morgan\u2019s outspoken persona on social media and alter ego as a comedic rapper called Razzlekhan, triggered a media firestorm and sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley and the world of cryptocurrency obsessives where they were known.<\/p>\n

Acquaintances said the pair had done little to reveal that they had allegedly been sitting atop an illicit fortune for years, while presenting themselves as fairly typical Silicon Valley strivers.\u00a0 But prosecutors said the couple had been slowly trying to launder the stolen money, while laying the groundwork to flee to Russia if necessary.<\/p>\n

Lichtenstein has been held without bail since his arrest. Morgan was released on $3 million bond and placed in home confinement.<\/p>\n

Court filings had stated the defendants had been engaged in plea bargain talks with prosecutors for much of the past year.<\/p>\n

A court filing late last year revealed that the investigation involved \u201cclassified national-security information and documents,\u201d that required the couple\u2019s attorneys to be given security clearances to review.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The husband and wife \u201ccrypto couple\u201d charged in connection with a $4.5 billion bitcoin heist in 2016\u00a0 have reached a plea agreement with prosecutors, according to a court filing on Friday. The couple, Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, are slated to appear for a plea hearing in federal district court in Washington, D.C., on Aug. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[236],"tags":[83],"class_list":["post-38801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"yoast_head":"\nHusband-wife \u2018crypto-couple\u2019 reach plea deal in $4.5 billion Bitcoin heist | iFintechWorld<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The husband and wife \u201ccrypto couple\u201d charged in connection with a $4.5 billion bitcoin heist in 2016\u00a0 have reached a plea agreement with prosecutors,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=38801\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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