WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A U.S. bitcoin hacker has been sentenced to five years in jail for laundering billions worth of bitcoin from Bitfinex, a global cryptocurrency exchange.
According to court documents, Russia-born Ilya Lichtenstein, 35, hacked into Bitfinex's network in 2016, and fraudulently authorized more than 2,000 transactions transferring 119,754 bitcoin to a cryptocurrency wallet in his control.
He laundered the proceeds from stolen cryptocurrency with the help of his wife Heather Morgan.
In August last year, Lichtenstein and Morgan both pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. In addition to his term of imprisonment, Lichtenstein was ordered to serve three years of supervised release. Morgan is scheduled to be sentenced on November 18, the Department of Justice said in a press release.
The value of bitcoins that the hacker laundered was worth around $4.5 bilion by the time they were arrested.
$3.6 billion worth of assets were recovered in the case.
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