Security

Bitcoin 'Bonnie and Clyde' make guilty plea deal over crypto money laundering

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August 4, 2023

Illya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, a married couple known by the nickname 'Bitcoin Bonnie and Clyde,' have pleaded guilty to a $4.5 billion money laundering scheme in connection with the 2016 hack of crypto exchange Bitfinex.

The Justice Department claimed Lichtenstein hacked into Bitfinex's network and made more than 2,000 fraudulent transactions to transfer nearly 120,000 bitcoins to his cryptocurrency wallet, according to a report by CNN.

His wife Morgan helped him launder these stolen funds. The pair were arrested in 2022, and since then their lives have come under media attention. Morgan was a rapper who went by the alias Razzlekhan and raps about being "the crocodile of Wall Street." The couple was known to walk a Bengal cat Clarissa on a leash in Manhattan.

Lichtenstein who is a Russian immigrant, will remain in jail while awaiting sentencing while Morgan is under house arrest. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering which comes with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while Morgan pleaded guilty to one county of money laundering conspiracy and one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., which each carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison.