Couple behind Bitfinex money laundering scheme reach plea deal with US prosecutors

Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan are scheduled to appear for arraignment and a hearing on August 3 as part of a plea deal with U.S. prosecutors.

The husband and wife suspected of laundering billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin related to the 2016 Bitfinex hack have reached a plea agreement with US authorities.

According to filings in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on July 21, Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan are scheduled to appear for arraignment and a hearing on August 3 as part of a plea deal with prosecutors. Both men had been charged with conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to defraud the United States, and expected to confiscate digital assets related to the case.

Following the August 2016 hack of crypto exchange Bitfinex in which an estimated 119,754 Bitcoin (BTC) was stolen, Lichtenstein and Morgan allegedly laundered more than 94,643 BTC of funds "in a series of small, complex transactions across multiple accounts and platforms." Authorities arrested the two in New York in February 2022 and seized the BTC – worth around $54 million at the time of the hack but $3.6 billion at press time.

Related: How the IRS Seized $10 Billion in Crypto Using Blockchain Analysis

At the time of Lichtenstein and Morgan's arrests, laundered bitcoin represented the largest financial seizure by the US Department of Justice. Individuals have periodically moved small amounts of hack-related BTC, but only a small amount has been