- In his initial public remarks following his sentencing, Ilya Lichtenstein clarified that he worked alone to hack Bitfinex, refuting a Netflix documentary that suggested his father, Eugene Lichtenstein, and wife, Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan, might have been involved.
- After completing his five-year term, Lichtenstein stated that he plans to employ his hacking expertise in the cybersecurity sector.
Ilya Lichtenstein, a self-confessed Bitfinex hacker, wants the public to know that neither his father, Eugene Lichtenstein, nor his wife, Heather Morgan, were personally involved in the 2016 heist of 120,000 bitcoin.
I was the only one who planned and carried out the Bitfinex heist. Furthermore, I am solely accountable for all that has occurred.
Any claims that my father, who is elderly and not tech-savvy, was ever involved in any hacking activities are utterly untrue and utterly ridiculous.
In the 2024 documentary “Biggest Heist Ever,” Yevgeniy “Eugene” Lichtenstein, also known as Deuce, was originally linked to the Bitfinex attack. The documentary also claimed that the Russian immigrant had hacked an Illinois bank in 2005.
Morgan, who is more well-known as the rapper Razzlekhan, uploaded Lichtenstein’s video and stated that he refuted some of the false accusations made in the “unauthorized” documentary.
Lichtenstein reiterates that Morgan was not aware of the crime, which occurred around two years after they first met in San Francisco, even though he acknowledges that she pleaded guilty to laundering “a small amount of bitcoin.” For one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, Morgan will spend eighteen months in federal prison.
It’s accurate. Bitfinex was hacked by me. Thousands of bitcoin were stolen and laundered by me. And I really apologize for everything. I sincerely apologize to Bitfinex for any inconvenience I may have given them. I made a lot of poor, self-centered decisions for a long time.
If anything, he continued, Morgan is just another casualty of my poor choices.
I despise myself when I think back on who I was at that time. I detest myself. Although I cannot alter the past, I can and will make every effort to set things right.
He has been helping the authorities recover the stolen assets for the past three years; they were valued at roughly $70 million at the time and $12 billion now. By the first quarter of next year, it is anticipated that the forfeiture and restitution procedure would have returned almost $10 billion. The distribution of these assets to Bitfinex or its clients will be determined at a reparations court in February.
Lichtenstein seems to want to use his background in hacking to pursue a career in cybersecurity. In apparent allusion to the 2008 Liam Neeson movie “Taken,” he claimed to possess “a particular set of skills” that he can employ. “My days of malevolent hacking are over; lengthy federal prison sentences serve as a potent deterrent.”
In light of this, Lichtenstein has already aided the government by providing testimony against Roman Sterlingov, the purported operator of the cryptocurrency mixer Bitcoin Fog, who was found guilty by a jury and given a 12.5-year term.
The government’s seizure of the stolen Bitfinex coins, which were valued at about $4 billion in February 2022, is still the biggest in American history. While Lichtenstein and Morgan complied with authorities, their sentencing dates were postponed.
I am aware of the dangers posed by cyberspace and know how to prevent them.
Disclaimer : This article was created for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. An asset’s past performance does not predict its future returns. Before making an investment, please conduct your own research, as digital assets like cryptocurrencies are highly risky and volatile financial instruments.
