US authorities have arrested a couple of New Yorkers accused of trying to launder some 3.1 billion euros stolen from a cryptocurrency platform in 2016, in the largest asset seizure to date in the country. The operation has put an end to a life of TikTok videos, exhibition of private life and motivational talks that the couple had, Heather Morgan and Ilya Litchensteina kind of Bonnie and Clyde from the era of crypto assets, social networks and influencers.
The couple posed as cryptocurrency entrepreneurs: Liechtenstein, a Russian-American engineer, claimed to be an “angel investor”, “web3 developer” and the creator of numerous startups. Morgan, for her part, claimed on the internet to be “a software investor, a surrealist artist, a rapper and a fashion designer”. In fact, both claim to have a stake in the company Salesfolka startup that supplies “templates” for sales and corporate emails, of which Morgan would be CEO.
Both sought fame on social networks. Lichtenstein posted on Facebook that his marriage plans were based on “a rare multi-channel marketing campaign,” which included posters with images that contained the “essence” of his partner: surreal, mysterious, and sexy.” On the other hand, Morgan posted videos musicals with songs like “Versace Bedouin”, with images of the financial district of New York. With the alias “Wall Street crocodile” he rapped about investment strategies (obviously he declared himself a risk-lover) and in TikTok videos he did it about meme stocks. He also lectured in Brooklyn on ‘social engineering,’ which he defines as “the act of manipulating other people to say or do what you want.”
US authorities note that hackers penetrated the exchange’s security systems in August 2016 and managed to infiltrate its infrastructure: “While inside the network, they initiated more than 2,000 unauthorized Bitcoin transactions, transferring approximately 119 754 Bitcoin from the victims’ accounts to an external account, identified as Wallet 1CGA4s5“. Investigators note that at the time of the breach, the loot was valued at approximately $71 million, but due to the increase in value of these assets since then, the stolen funds are valued at more than $4.5 billion at the time. Actual Price.
The agents tracked the stolen funds on the Bitcoin blockchain. It was thus that they discovered that as of January 2017 a part of the assets began to leave the Wallet 1CGA4 in a series of small and complex transactions across multiple accounts and platforms. According to authorities, this operation, which created a large number of transactions, appeared to be designed to “conceal the path of stolen funds and prevent law enforcement from tracking the funds.”
According to the experts, Liechtenstein and Monaco began to transfer parts of the loot from the Wallet 1CGA4 accounts to a darknet exchange called Alphabay with the intention of laundering it. Later, they began to pass it to other exchanges and anonymous accounts to finally transfer it to their own accounts. In this sense, the authorities have charged them with “conspiracy to commit money laundering”, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and “conspiracy to defraud the United States”, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. prison in the United States.
“In a futile effort to maintain digital anonymity, the defendants laundered stolen funds through a maze of cryptocurrency transactions. Thanks to the meticulous work of law enforcement, the department once again demonstrated how it can and will follow the money trail, no matter what form it takes,” said US Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco.
Bitfinex, for its part, has stated in a statement that, if he receives back the stolen bitcoin, he will use an amount equal to 80% of the net funds recovered to buy back his cryptocurrency token UNUS SED LEO, to through open market transactions or through private transactions. the price of the UNUS SED LEO it has shot up by around 50% since this announcement, according to information from the portal coinmarketcap.
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