For Angel Di Matteo @shadowargel
In addition to finding two of the alleged perpetrators, the DOJ also managed to recover some BTC 96,000 housed in the wallet of one of the captured, which data housed in blockchain associated with the funds stolen from Bitfinex six years ago.
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The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced today that it has found the capture and arrest of two people, who were allegedly involved in the hack against the exchange Bitfinex in 2016, one of the most controversial thefts that shook the ecosystem of digital currencies and the platform at the time.
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They capture people linked to hacking Bitfinex
According to a report submitted by the DOJ, to Ilia Lichtenstein 34 years old and his wife, Heather Morgan 31 years old, they are accused of conspiring to legitimize funds linked to cryptocurrencies that were stolen from Bitfinex in 2016. To find those responsible, the authorities carried out a fairly meticulous job of monitoring the transactions, seizing some USD $3.6 billion in crypto funds related to the exchange at the end of the procedure.
In this regard, the Assistant Attorney General, Lisa O. Monaco, commented:
“In a futile effort to maintain digital anonymity, the defendants laundered stolen funds through a maze of cryptocurrency transactions. Thanks to the meticulous work of law enforcement, the department once again demonstrated how it can and will follow the money trail, no matter what form it takes.”
About the robbery perpetrated in 2016
In 2016, Bitfinex was the victim of a hack in which a significant amount of data was stolen Bitcoin to the exchange through a security breach. Those were very hard times for the company, but thanks to certain strategies and a fairly serious compensation program, it managed to get ahead and recover from this heavy blow.
Lichtenstein and his wife are accused of participating in the legitimization of some 119,754 bitcoins, currently valued at just over $5.115 million, originally stolen from Bitfinex. The operations were duly monitored through the data reported by the same network blockchain, which determined that the accused received the funds in a wallet of his property, in which there were about 96,000 BTC.
In this regard, the report reads:
“Following the execution of court-authorized search warrants of online accounts controlled by Lichtenstein and Morgan, agents obtained access to files within an online account controlled by the defendants.”
Finding the stolen funds
Subsequently, the authorities found some personal files where the private keys linked to the wallet in question were, where they found the funds stolen from Bitfinex, which were seized and are in the custody of the judicial body.
These funds are expected to go back to Bitfinex if there is no other allegation, since otherwise, the recovered BTC would remain in the hands of the government, which could well auction them as it has done with other funds derived from illicit activities.
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Angel Di Matteo version / DailyBitcoin
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