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U.S. prosecutors person asked a national justice to green-light the instrumentality of astir 80% of the 119,754 bitcoins stolen successful the 2016 hack of crypto speech Bitfinex.
In a Tuesday tribunal filing, prosecutors said the 94,643 bitcoins recovered by the authorities from the archetypal wallet utilized by the hacker, Ilya Lichtenstein, tin beryllium paid to Bitfinex arsenic restitution in-kind erstwhile the tribunal gives the go-ahead. The Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Satoshi Vision and Bitcoin Gold generated via respective hard forks pursuing the hack volition besides beryllium sent to Bitfinex.
Last November, Lichtenstein was sentenced to 5 years successful situation aft pleading blameworthy to conspiracy to perpetrate wealth laundering successful 2023. His wife, Heather Morgan – amended known by her rap moniker Razzlekhan – received an 18-month condemnation for helping Lichtenstein to launder a information of the hack proceeds. Both agreed to forfeit the stolen cryptocurrency arsenic portion of their plea agreements.
Returning the remaining 25,000 bitcoins volition beryllium much complicated.
In their filing, prosecutors said that, due to the fact that Lichtenstein and Morgan attempted to launder those coins via a “variety of analyzable and technologically blase means, including laundering done extended peel concatenation transactions, non-compliant virtual currency exchanges, darknet markets, and mixers and tumblers, arsenic good arsenic commingling successful the defendants’ concern and idiosyncratic accounts” they cannot beryllium characterized arsenic the “specific property” mislaid successful the hack and indispensable truthful beryllium returned via an ancillary forfeiture proceeding.
English (US) 