Over Bitcoin Laundering Crypto Larceny Couple Set for US Appeal
Hearing August 3 was for Razzlekhan rapper and her husband, these charges stuck to 2016 drudge of the Bitfinex crypto exchange.
A social media rapper, who called herself the Crocodile of Wall Street, and her husband have outreached for an appeal with prosecutors in a case that involved censoring billions of dollars of the stolen Bitcoin, according to Bloomberg’s report.
Heather Morgan and Ilya Lichtenstein are scheduled to come for hearing on August, over a year after they were charged, in accordance with the filing Friday in federal court in Washington. The couple were apprehended in Feb. 2022, but requested lags in their case to help hearing discussions, which could point out they are contributing with authorities.
Additionally, Bloomberg broadcasted that court filing didn’t give details regarding anticipated hearings, US District Judge Colleen Kollar- Kotelly ordered the parties to give paperwork for the plea by July 27, besides the copy of plea agreement. Morgan and Lichtenstein lawyers didn’t answer to request for comment.
Bitcoin Bitfinex Larceny
The government allege the couple of schemes to censor 119,754 of Btc stolen after the 2016 hack of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex. They reportedly used fake identities to open online accounts and conceal the series of transactions by depositing and then taking back those stolen funds from virtual currency exchanges and darknet markets.
Bloomberg added that some of the funds they cashed out of Btc ATMs was utilized to purchase, NFTs, gold, and Walmart gift cards and other things, as per government. But prosecutors didn’t allege the couple of the actual theft.
Morgan, who dubbed herself Razzlekhan appeared on social media rapping regarding investment strategies and calling herself a risk-loving money maker. Lichtenstein, who used nickname Dutch called himself an angle investor in technology companies as per his Linkedln profile.
At the rime of Bitfinex larceny, Bitcoin was trading under $1000. And when the couple was arrested in Feb 2022, it had jumped to $44000, increasing the worth of stolen assets to $4.5 billion, of which $3.6 billion had been recovered by authorities. Ever since, Bitcoin has dropped off to around $30,000.
