He Laundered $4.5 Billion in Bitcoin. Now He’s a US Government Witness
- Ilya Lichtenstein testifies for US in money laundering case
- Bitcoin Fog service was used to hide stolen money, he says
Ilya Lichtenstein’s testimony helped shed more light on the motives behind the 2016 Bitfinex hack and how he managed to launder millions of dollars.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A hacker who looted billions of dollars from crypto exchange Bitfinex revealed details of how he was able to pull off one of largest Bitcoin heists in history.
Ilya Lichtenstein, who appeared as a cooperating US government witness in a money laundering trial in Washington, told a jury Tuesday that he had access to Bitfinex’s systems for several months and also hacked into individual accounts at other crypto exchanges such as Coinbase and Kraken. Lichtenstein and his social-media rapper wife pleaded guilty last year to a money-laundering conspiracy tied to the hack.