The hacker responsible for the Bitfinex money laundering scheme was given a five-year prison sentence.

• A man who stole nearly 120,000 bitcoin from Bitfinex in 2016 was sentenced to five years in prison for a money laundering scheme he and his wife executed to conceal the stolen cryptocurrency.
• The value of the stolen bitcoin at the time of the hack was $70 million, but it is now worth $10.5 billion due to the rise in the price of bitcoin.

A man who stole nearly 120,000 bitcoin from Bitfinex in 2016 was sentenced to five years in prison for a money laundering scheme with his wife.

At the time of the Bitfinex cyberattack, the value of that bitcoin was $70 million, which was later stolen by Ilya Lichtenstein.

The value of that crypto has increased to $10.5 billion as a result of the rise in bitcoin's price since 2016.

In August 2023, 35-year-old Lichtenstein and his wife, Heather Rhiannon Morgan, pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy in federal court in Washington, D.C., 18 months after their arrest.

At the plea hearing, Lichtenstein publicly admitted for the first time that he was the hacker of Bitfinex.

Lichtenstein had faced a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison.

Lichtenstein could be released from prison in less than two years with credit for good behavior, which is standard in the federal penal system.

Morgan is scheduled to be sentenced Monday in Washington.

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