DoJ seizes $3.6B in crypto and arrests two in connection with 2016 Bitfinex hack

cointelegraph.com:

Authorities in the United States have made arrests and announced the seizure of $3.6 billion in cryptocurrency more than five years after hackers stole 119,756 Bitcoin from the Bitfinex exchange.

In a Tuesday announcement, the U.S. Department of Justice said it had ordered the arrest of Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan for allegedly conspiring to launder crypto connected to the 2016 Bitfinex hack. The 119,756 Bitcoin (BTC) — worth $72 million at the time hackers breached security at the exchange in August 2016 — is now valued at more than $5.1 billion.

Since the 2016 hack, individuals connected to the stolen coins have periodically moved small amounts of them in separate transactions, leaving the bulk of the funds untouched. The DoJ reported that it had traced 25,000 BTC of these transferred funds to financial accounts controlled by Lichtenstein and Morgan. Special agents were then able to gain access to and seize more than 94,000 BTC — worth $3.6 billion at the time — from Morgan and Lichtenstein after a search warrant allowed them to view files containing private keys to the wallet.

“Today’s arrests, and the department’s largest financial seizure ever, show that cryptocurrency is not a safe haven for criminals,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. “In a futile effort to maintain digital anonymity, the defendants laundered stolen funds through a labyrinth of cryptocurrency transactions. Thanks to the meticulous work of law enforcement, the department once again showed how it can and will follow the money, no matter what form it takes.”

Assistant attorney general for the criminal division of the DoJ, Kenneth Polite, added that federal authorities had the ability to “follow money through the blockchain.”