120,000 Bitcoin stolen in 2016, now worth over 10 trillion
A man who stole billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin and laundered some of it has been sentenced to prison.
According to the Associated Press on the 15th (local time), Ilya Lichtenstein, who led one of the largest cryptocurrency theft cases in history, was sentenced to five years in prison on the 14th.
In August 2016, he hacked Bitfinex, a Hong Kong-based virtual currency exchange, and stole about 120,000 bitcoins.
According to local U.S. prosecutors, the 120,000 bitcoins he stole were worth $71 million (about 99.1 billion won) at the time of the hack, and are estimated to be worth more than $7.6 billion (about 10.618 trillion won) at current market prices.
Lichtenstein, who was living in San Francisco at the time of the hack, laundered the stolen money with the help of his wife, Heather Rhiannon Morgan.
In August 2023, prosecutors sought a five-year prison sentence for Liechtenstein, who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Prosecutors said, “The defendant attempted to access Bitfinex’s infrastructure for several months and eventually obtained the access necessary for hacking.”
Prosecutors described the defendant’s money laundering technique as “the most complex technique IRS agents have seen in over 50 years.”
The couple successfully laundered about 21% of the stolen Bitcoin, whose value is estimated to have exceeded $1 billion (about 1.4 trillion won) at the time of their arrest in 2022.
Investigative authorities reported that they have seized funds worth over $6 billion (approximately 8.37 trillion won) in current value.
Lichtenstein has been in prison for two years and nine months since his arrest and said, “I regret wasting my talent on crime rather than contributing to society.”
“I take full responsibility for my actions and want to make amends in any way I can,” he said.
Meanwhile, for his wife Morgan, the prosecution requested 18 months in prison for the same charges as Lichtenstein, and the court is scheduled to hand down the sentence on the 18th of this month.
[서울=뉴시스]
-
- great
- 0dog
-
- I’m sad
- 0dog
- I recommend it
- dog