Man Behind $4,500,000,000 Bitfinex Hack Turns Into Federal Witness in Money Laundering Trial

The infamous hacker who orchestrated the massive 2016 exploit of the crypto exchange Bitfinex has reportedly turned into a government witness.

In 2022, Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan – known as the “crypto couple” – were arrested for conspiring to launder $4.5 billion worth of stolen crypto assets from the Bitfinex hack. They pled guilty to the crime last year.

Now, Lichtenstein has appeared as a cooperating US government witness in an ongoing money laundering trial centered around the crypto mixing service Bitcoin Fog, according to a new Bloomberg report.

Lichtenstein testified that he had access to Bitfinex’s systems for months and also exploited accounts at US crypto exchanges Coinbase and Kraken.

The hacker also reportedly testified that he employed Bitcoin Fog up to 10 times to launder his stolen proceeds, though he noted that he later switched to other mixers, according to the report.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Roman Sterlingov, the alleged principal operator of Bitcoin Fog, back in 2021.

Lichtenstein, who also goes by the name “Dutch,” described himself on LinkedIn as a “technology entrepreneur, coder and investor.”

Morgan is a former Forbes columnist and chief executive of a copywriting firm. She’s also an idiosyncratic YouTube rapper known as “Razzlekhan.”

A feature film about the couple titled “Razzlekhan” is reportedly in development at Amazon MGM Studios, according to Deadline.

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