Security News > 2022 > February > FBI seizes $3.6bn in Bitcoin after New York 'tech couple' arrested over Bitfinex robbery

Two New York-based "Tech entrepreneurs" were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly conspiring to launder $4.5bn in stolen cryptocurrency, the US Department of Justice said, adding it's so far recovered $3.6bn in purloined digicah - based on current prices.

At the time the funds were stolen in August 2016, a single BTC traded for about $540, making 119,754 BTC worth about $65m. Today, one BTC sells for roughly $43,170, making the total haul worth about $5.2bn; it was valued at around $4.5bn at the time the feds filed their court documents.

According to the feds, the funds stolen from Bitfinex, through a series of around 2,000 transactions, are alleged to have ended up in a digital wallet controlled by Lichtenstein.

Despite these efforts, said Janczewski, authorities traced the stolen BTC to multiple accounts controlled by Ilya "Dutch" Lichtenstein, a Russian-US national living in New York, and his wife Heather Morgan.

Janczewski's affidavit details the maze of transactions the pair allegedly used to launder the stolen funds.

Apart from the 25,000 BTC said to have been laundered since the Bitfinex hack, most of the stolen funds remained in Wallet 1CGA4s from August 2016 until January 31, 2022.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/02/08/bitfinex_arrests_cryptocurrency/