- The two suspects were taken into custody in Manhattan, New York City.
- More than two thousand bitcoin accounts were discovered in one wallet.
According to the US Justice Department, a New Yorker-based couple has been detained for allegedly plotting to launder millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies, which announced the arrests on Tuesday. Federal law enforcement agencies have connected the recovered cash to the Bitfinex breach of 2016. This was the biggest haul ever for the department.
The two suspects were taken into custody in Manhattan, New York City, on Tuesday morning. Sophisticated money laundering procedures are said to be used by them. The pair appeared in federal court for the first time today and were granted bail. They’ve been charged with conspiring to launder money and conspiring to defraud the United States, according to federal authorities.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said:
“Today’s arrests, and the department’s largest financial seizure ever, show that cryptocurrency is not a safe haven for criminals.”
Value of Stolen Bitcoin is Now Around $4.5 billion
According to authorities, approximately $71 million in stolen bitcoin was moved to an external digital wallet during the 2016 attack. As of this writing, the value of the stolen bitcoin is more than $4.5 billion.
More than two thousand bitcoin accounts were discovered in one wallet, and the trail led to a dark web marketplace named AlphaBay. The Justice Department dissolved the marketplace in 2017. Authorities said that an online account belonging to Lichtenstein included the private keys to the wallet used to accept and keep bitcoin stolen in the 2016 Bitfinex hack.
According to a statement from the Department of Justice, the keys enabled investigators to seize and reclaim more than 94,000 bitcoin legally. Authorities claim to have located the missing money in many bank accounts owned by Lichtenstein, Morgan, and their companies. Prosecutors allege that bitcoin ATMs were used to withdraw millions of dollars, then spent on gold, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and Walmart gift cards.
