An eccentric Russian émigré and his paramour been picked up in connection to a huge cache of Bitcoin that investigators say is connected to the Bitfinex hack in 2016.
At the time, the hack itself was linked to a Bitgo wallet system that did not sufficiently favor cold storage. Even though multifactor authentication was in place, somehow Bitfinex lost nearly 120,000 BTC. Now, it seems to be, reportedly, found in the custody of Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan.
Today Cheyenne Ligon at Coindesk reports on a Treasury raid on Lichtenstein and Morgan’s apartment that uncovered 120,000 bitcoin in the couple’s possession, worth $4.6 billion today.
That’s not all agents found in the apartment of Lichtenstein and Morgan – first, Ligon reports, they found a spreadsheet of fake personas and indications that the US-Russian dual citizen was pursuing a pattern of identity theft.
They also found a container full of sim cards and burner phones.
They even found that Lichtenstein had resorted to the old hollowed-out book trick, although two books altered in this way were ultimately empty.
The feds are still looking for gold that’s indicated as Lichtenstein and Morgan’s asset, but did not turn up at the apartment.
Investigators are also trying to figure out whether the couple had anything to do with the initial hack, or whether they simply bought Bitcoin from the hackers.
The case is made a lot weirder by Morgan’s online footprint, where she produces a lot of prominent performance art calling herself “Razzlekhan” or, alternately, the “crocodile of Wall Street.”
Some of this act reportedly talks about spearfishing and stealing passwords.
The pair are not getting out on bail.
“On Tuesday, a federal judge struck down (a related order,) staying their release from custody,” Ligon writes. “New documents filed Thursday provide additional evidence against ( Lichtenstein and Morgan), and details prosecutors’ concerns that the couple are ‘sophisticated defendants with the means to flee and ample incentive to do so.’”
Keep an eye on this story as law enforcement tries to puzzle out what happened with the Bitfinex theft.
