Bitfinex hacker Razzlekhan sentenced to 18 months in prison
Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan has been sentenced to nearly two years in jail for her involvement in the $10.8 billion Bitfinex hack, according to a court ruling on November 18.
Morgan conspired with her partner, Ilya Lichtenstein, to steal 120,000 Bitcoin (BTC) from Bitfinex, which was worth $17 million at the time. The criminal couple pled guilty to conspiracy and money laundering in July 2023, following their arrest in February 2022.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia stated that Morgan willfully committed serious crimes and only ceased her actions when compelled to do so by law enforcement. Morgan claimed that she learned of Lichtenstein’s theft after it had already taken place. During the hearing, she expressed shame and regret for assisting her husband in the Bitfinex hack.
Morgan has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, as recommended by prosecutors. Lichtenstein, the mastermind behind the hack, was sentenced to five years in prison last week.
The maximum penalties for their crimes could have resulted in a total of 25 years in prison. However, Lichtenstein and Morgan managed to launder around one-fifth of the stolen funds. Additionally, the couple forfeited all the proceeds from the heist after federal authorities determined that they had defrauded the United States and employed well-planned strategies to launder the money.
According to investigators, Lichtenstein and Morgan used various methods to conceal their tracks and launder the stolen wealth. They swapped assets across multiple chains, utilized crypto mixers to hide their on-chain activity, exchanged cryptocurrencies on dark web markets, and even purchased gold as a means of laundering the stolen funds.
Read more: Bitfinex hacker sentenced to 5 years in prison for extracting nearly 120k BTC.
