US married couple arrested for allegedly conspiring to launder $4.5bn in bitcoin
Notorious gangsters Bonnie and Clyde ended up gunned down by the police after their multiple and violent robberies in the 1930s. This couple in their thirties 'only' ended up arrested after their almost 'white glove' cryptocurrency theft. They are Heather Morgan and Ilya Lichtenstein , a relatively famous couple in the field of digital art, music videos (the world of TikTok) and TED talks. His elevated lifestyle did not go unnoticed either. They have done? They have been caught red- handed trying to launder 119,754 bitcoins stolen in a 2016 hack on the Bitfinex platform. That stack of bitcoin is worth $4.5 billion right now.
FBI sources confirm the diagnosis to Bloomberg . They're Bonnie and Clyde in the age of crypto: made-for-TikTok personalities who glamorously turned evil in the eyes of their social media followers. She, Morgan, introduced herself as 'The Crocodile of Wall Street' and Razzlekhan , a surreal artist and rapper with tattooed hands. He, Lichtenstein, however, wanted to assume a more 'quiet' role: that of a "technology entrepreneur" and "occasional magician" who asked for the hand of his now wife through the billboards of Times Square.
In the early hours of this Tuesday in the US, his 'world' fell apart. They were arrested by federal law enforcement in New York and charged with a crime that would have seemed preposterous before the success of cryptocurrencies: getting rich off a stash of stolen bitcoin . Both appeared in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday night. Neither of them wore handcuffs or spoke in public. Their lawyers, who have hired other lawyers, were the ones who spoke. The trial will finally be held in Washington.
The judge has granted them bail , setting a payment of three million dollars for Morgan and asking his parents to put their house as collateral. For Lichtenstein, the amount is five million dollars. The government initially asked the judge not to allow them to be released on bail. Each of them faces the possibility of a 20-year prison sentence , so they may be motivated to flee, a prosecutor told the judge.
The Justice Department says the bitcoin stolen during the 2016 hack was sent to a digital wallet controlled by Lichtenstein and then to one the pair controlled through a complex laundering scheme. The cryptocurrencies were worth $71 million when they were stolen in 2016 . Now the stash is worth $4.5 billion as bitcoin prices have skyrocketed. Of this amount, federal agents have managed to recover $3.6 billion in tokens . The pair have not been accused of committing the 'hacking' itself.
Morgan and Lichtenstein were living lives made for social media. Even Lichtenstein's high-profile proposal in 2019 seemed destined to boost his future wife's career as Razzlekhan, an artist specializing in collage, sculpture, painting and fashion design.
In a post , Lichtenstein said he planned the marriage proposal around "a weird and creative multi-channel marketing campaign." That campaign included posters and digital ads that "captured the essence of Razzlekhan: surreal, mysterious, creepy and sexy."
Morgan, meanwhile, has also released singles and music videos on YouTube . In his 2019 song, Versace Bedouin — a number he characterized as an "anthem for the misfits and the weirdos" — strolls the cobblestone streets of New York's financial district, donning a gleaming gold jacket in front of a statue of George Washington. As a 'Wall Street Crocodile' she also rapped about investment strategies, calling herself a risk taker who was "astute as an alligator". She was also an active TikToker.