US Department of Justice seized $3.6 billion in Bitcoin stolen from 2016 Bitfinex hack

• The Justice Department announced its largest-ever financial seizure worth $3.6 billion in Bitcoin.
• A New York couple was arrested as they were accused of conspiring to launder stolen BTC funds from the 2016 Bitfinex exchange hack.
• The Deputy Attorney General iterated that the authorities are able to follow the money through blockchain.

The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) recently revealed that it had managed to recover over three billion dollars worth of Bitcoin stolen during the 2016 Bitfinex hack. Law enforcement also arrested a couple in New York for an alleged conspiracy to launder the stolen assets.

New York couple attempted to launder stolen Bitcoin

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement that the latest recovery of $3.6 billion worth of Bitcoin was the department’s largest financial seizure ever. 

The couple, Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan attempted to launder the stolen BTC through a “labyrinth of cryptocurrency transactions,” including depositing the coins at exchanges and darknet and withdrawing them, as well as automating transactions using computer programs.

The Deputy Attorney further stated, “the department once again showed how it can and will follow the money.”

The 2016 Bitfinex hack which resulted in a loss of 119,756 Bitcoin worth roughly $72 million at the time when the hackers breached security at the exchange is now worth over $5 billion.

Since the 2016 hack, the perpetrators connected to the stolen funds have periodically moved small amounts of Bitcoin in separate transactions, leaving most of the BTC untouched. The US Department of Justice managed to trace 25,000 BTC of the transferred funds to financial accounts controlled by the couple. 

The seizure was possible due to the court-authorized search warrants of the couple’s online accounts, enabling special agents access to files containing the private keys that controlled the Bitcoin wallet. Law enforcement officials were able to sweep over 94,000 Bitcoin stolen from the Bitfinex hack.

The couple also allegedly set up business accounts in the United States to “legitimize their banking activity.”

Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the DoJ, Kenneth Polite stated that federal authorities have the ability to “follow the money through the blockchain.”

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