'Like Genghis Khan, but With More Pizzazz': What We Know About the Accused Bitfinex Money Launderers

They are palmy and glamorous, successful a Bushwick, Brooklyn, benignant of way. And connected Tuesday, U.S. officials arrested them connected allegations they sought to launder billions of dollars worthy of crypto stemming from a 2016 hack of the Bitfinex crypto exchange.

She is simply a young selling entrepreneur with a cheekish rapper change ego and a batch of bylines successful concern magazines. Her hubby is simply a tech entrepreneur who founded a blockchain startup that promised users a accidental to support their privacy. Now their ain privateness is gone arsenic they’re charged with being heavy progressive successful 1 of the largest crypto hacks successful history.

For Heather Morgan and Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein, it’s not a agelong region from New York's hipster-soaked metropolis cafes to the national courthouse, but it’s a agelong mode from wherever they appeared to beryllium going.

Federal officials allege Lichtenstein and Morgan kept 2,000 crypto wallet addresses and their corresponding effect phrases successful a spreadsheet stored connected a unreality retention service. The feds accessed the spreadsheet with a warrant.

While the ailment warrant filed by U.S. authorities contiguous impeach Lichtenstein and Morgan of being importantly progressive successful what happened with the Bitfinex hack, they did not impeach Lichtenstein oregon Morgan of being the existent hackers. Rather, the feds said, “In oregon astir August 2016, a hacker breached Victim [virtual currency exchange’s] information systems and infiltrated its infrastructure.”

That leaves the doorway unfastened for others to beryllium charged with that oregon for much definitive statements to travel retired later.

A University of California, Davis grad, Morgan spent clip successful the Middle East, getting a Master of Arts grade successful planetary economical improvement astatine the American University successful Cairo and studying Turkish monetary argumentation successful Ankara’s Bilkent University, according to what appears to be her LinkedIn profile. (She calls herself “Turkish Martha Stewart” successful a euphony video.)

At 23 she built a institution called SalesFolk, which uses a unchangeable of copywriters to pump retired acold emails for companies wanting to marketplace their wares connected the internet.

“I’m going to archer you my concealed for making dreams a reality,” Morgan said successful a TikTok video. “I started my institution erstwhile I was 23 and grew it into a multimillion-dollar concern with zero extracurricular funding. I had nary connections. I didn’t spell to an Ivy League schoolhouse and I wasn’t trust-funded. How did I bash it? I learned a elemental model successful Silicon Valley from immoderate apical entrepreneurs that are present billionaires that I unrecorded by. It goes similar this: automate, eliminate, delegate.”

She counts self-proclaimed “crypto genius” James Altucher and Indiegogo laminitis Slava Rubin arsenic LinkedIn connections, arsenic good arsenic a fewer CoinDesk alumni.

Interestingly, one portion she did for Forbes included quotes from BitGo's main compliance officer, Matt Parrella. BitGo provided the multi-signature wallets and was custodian for Bitfinex astatine the clip of the astir 120,000 bitcoin hack successful 2016. "In bid to retreat specified a ample magnitude of funds, BitGo would apt person had to motion disconnected connected those transactions," Stan Higgins wrote astatine the clip for CoinDesk.

Oh, and she is simply a rap star. OK, not rather similar chap entrepreneur Jay-Z oregon adjacent Vanilla Ice, but her humorous takes were mildly reminiscent of Kitty from a fewer years ago. Going by the sanction Razzlekhan (“like Genghis Khan, but with much pizzazz,” proclaims her website), Morgan pumped retired songs implicit the past fewer months that weren’t going to marque it connected the vigor but could surely marque for a amusive show.

“Razzlekhan is simply a surrealist creator with synesthesia making euphony for MI$FIT$. 💜🧞‍♀️ Razz creates sexy horror-comedy raps with an authentically awkward twang. This ‘digital bedouin’ gives you a sensation of the silk road--from Cairo to Hong Kong,” says her Spotify page. The rubric of 1 song, “SaaSholes,” is simply a motion to her nonrecreational vocation arsenic a SaaS entrepreneur.

Her opus “GILFALICIOUS” is astir a “gilf,” which 1 assumes is an acronym for “grandma I’d similar to person java with” oregon thereabouts. “I made the song, GILFALICIOUS, arsenic a humorous onslaught connected #ageism against women & #sexism successful general. If I marque it to 90, this is EXACTLY however I privation to be…” she said connected Instagram. Unfortunately for her, determination is simply a accidental she whitethorn scope that property connected the incorrect broadside of situation bars.

Morgan’s partner, Dutch Lichtenstein, isn’t rather the aforesaid societal media presence. He is, however, an alumnus of the prestigious Silicon Valley accelerator programme Y Combinator; with that archetypal funding, helium co-founded a information and adtech startup called MixRank which secured backing from Mark Cuban, among others (the institution is inactive active, though Lichtenstein appears to person near successful 2016).

Occasionally, Lichtenstein took to Twitter to pass radical astir the menace of hacks. After a station by 1 Twitter idiosyncratic saying, “when you bargain an ape connected opensea it should popular up a large reddish informing motion that says ne'er springiness your effect operation to anyone, particularly m*tamask support,” Lichtenstein chimed successful with approval, saying, “There truly should beryllium a mandatory information tutorial with a trial astatine the extremity for galore crypto assets.”

UPDATE: Feb. 8, 2022 (21:49 UTC): Added Forbes nonfiction which included an interrogation with a BitGo executive.