{"id":1786,"date":"2022-02-09T20:48:17","date_gmt":"2022-02-09T20:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/?p=1786"},"modified":"2022-02-09T20:48:18","modified_gmt":"2022-02-09T20:48:18","slug":"what-we-know-about-the-bizarre-couple-charged-with-the-bitfinex-hack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/?p=1786","title":{"rendered":"What We Know About the Bizarre Couple Charged With the Bitfinex Hack"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\namzn_assoc_placement = \"adunit0\";\r\namzn_assoc_tracking_id = \"totafreearti-20\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_mode = \"search\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_type = \"smart\";\r\namzn_assoc_marketplace = \"amazon\";\r\namzn_assoc_region = \"US\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = \"crypto\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_category = \"All\";\r\namzn_assoc_search_bar = \"false\";\r\namzn_assoc_title = \"\";\r\namzn_assoc_rows =\"1\";\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/z-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/onejs?MarketPlace=US\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<h3>Key Takeaways<\/h3>\n<p>The U.S. Department of Justice has charged Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan for conspiracy to launder funds tied to the 2016 Bitfinex hack.\u00a0<br \/>\nThe couple&#8217;s quirky online personas have led some to suggest that they are not behind the hack, despite the DoJ accusing them of laundering the stolen funds.<br \/>\nWhile evidence suggests that Lichtenstein and Morgan had the expertise required to pull off the Bitfinex hack, it doesn&#8217;t mean they were the ones responsible.<\/p>\n<p>Share this article<\/p>\n<p>U.S. authorities have confiscated $3.6 billion from Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan in the largest asset seizure in history. However, the eccentric personalities of the suspects have left many wondering if the pair really are the ones responsible for hacking Bitfinex back in 2016.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Who Are the Alleged Bitfinex Hackers?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>When the U.S. Department of Justice arrested two suspects and confiscated $3.6 billion worth of cryptocurrencies Tuesday morning, the world was eager to learn the identities of the alleged thieves. Onlookers probably imagined the quintessential shady hackers: pasty, reclusive, and antisocial. So it came as a big surprise when authorities revealed they had taken Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan into custody, a successful power couple living in New York with a penchant for zany behavior and a side hustle making amateur rap videos.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Media pundits quickly revealed the pair\u2019s highly-cultivated and colorful online presence, rooting through YouTube videos, Tik Tok videos, and even Morgan\u2019s op-eds as a former <em>Forbes<\/em> columnist. Morgan, 31, is described in her <em>Forbes<\/em> bio as \u201can expert in persuasion, social engineering, and game theory.\u201d In her rap videos, where she performs under the alias Razzlekhan, she calls herself \u201cthe crocodile of Wall street.\u201d Other hijinks she\u2019s shared on social media include eating and drinking with her feet, explaining how she built a multimillion-dollar business with \u201czero outside funding,\u201d and lots and lots of dancing and rapping.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Outside of managing her online persona, Morgan has run talks titled \u201cHow to Social Engineer Your Way Into ANYTHING\u201d to packed audiences in New York Salons. In the talks, she explains how social engineering is about exploiting peoples cognitive biases and \u201ctriggering people to do what they\u2019re already programmed to do.\u201d She appears to have a strong aptitude for her brand of social engineering, and gives several examples of how she\u2019s used it in her day-to-day life.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Lichtenstein, 34, presents a more grounded image online. In his Twitter bio, he describes himself as a \u201chuman angel investor, web3 developer, and serial entrepreneur.\u201d He also has a strong technical background, cofounding MixRank, a Y-Combinator-backed startup that helps companies analyze marketing data around customers and competitors. However, he also stars in many of Morgan\u2019s online antics, dancing around dressed in a Viking helmet and sharing his opinions on Keto diet lemon cookies.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The pair are far from what many people expected in a pair of multi-billion-dollar hackers. Some have suggested that Lichtenstein and Morgan are merely accomplices or \u201cfall guys\u201d for the real hacker who is yet to be caught. Others believe that the pair are indeed responsible, citing Morgan\u2019s social engineering prowess and the pair\u2019s technical backgrounds as evidence that they are capable of the heist. As no official post-mortem on the 2016 Bitfinex hack was ever released, it\u2019s unclear how the exchange\u2019s wallets were compromised.<\/p>\n<p><em>Crypto Briefing<\/em> looked into the available facts and evidence surrounding the pair and the criminal charges levied against them. Join us as we assess how likely it is that Lichtenstein and Morgan are the criminal masterminds behind the Bitfinex hack.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Were Lichtenstein and Morgan Behind the Hack?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Despite Lichtenstein and Morgan\u2019s eccentric personas and relative internet celebrity, the couple appear to have the expertise needed hack Bitfinex. Lichtenstein\u2019s technical background in coding and data analysis likely provided him with many of the skills necessary to crack into the crypto exchange, more so back in 2016 when security standards were less rigorous.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, Morgan is a self-proclaimed cybercrime expert, with her Linkedin profile claiming she is \u201ccurrently focused on building software that combats the rampant increase in fraud and cybercrime.\u201d With high-level knowledge on how to counter cybercrime, it\u2019s not inconceivable that Morgan would possess knowledge of how to bypass Bitfinex\u2019s defenses.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>More shockingly, Morgan appears to have connections with BitGo, the wallet solution provider for Bitfinex at the time of the 2016 hack. In a 2020 <em>Forbes<\/em> article, Morgan discussed ways to protect businesses and clients from cyber criminals with BitGo\u2019s Chief Compliance Officer, Matt Parrella. While Parrella only held his position as BitGo between July 2019 and November 2020, the fact that Morgan was in contact with BitGo employees and seen as an authority on cyber security after the Bitfinex hack took place raises several red flags.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Morgan\u2019s love for social engineering could also factor into her involvement in the Bitfinex hack. Suppose Morgan had access to, or was in contact with Bitfinex or BitGo employees prior to the hack. In that case, she could have used her social engineering techniques to gain access to private or sensitive information that aided the heist, if she and Lichtenstein were indeed involved.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, while evidence suggests that the couple had the competence to pull off the Bitfinex hack, it doesn\u2019t mean they were the ones responsible. Court documents released Tuesday provide more insight into the pair\u2019s money laundering activities, and reveal some embarrassing mistakes that are uncharacteristic of supposed multi-billion dollar hackers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The most obvious evidence against Lichtenstein and Morgan\u2019s involvement in the initial theft of funds from Bitfinex is that the Department of Justice has not yet charged them with such a crime. The two charges currently brought against the pair are conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. If authorities had evidence to suggest Lichtenstein and Morgan were behind the Bitfinex hack, there would likely be an additional charge of Grand Larceny in the first degree.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, the same documents revealed that Lichtenstein had kept the private keys to the wallets containing the stolen cryptocurrency unencrypted on a cloud storage service. It seems strange that a self-professed cybersecurity expert and data analyst would have such poor operation security for wallets containing large amounts of stolen cryptocurrency.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Authorities connected email addresses used by Lichtenstein and Morgan on an Indian crypto exchange to a Bitcoin address tied to the stolen funds. Law enforcement then got a warrant to access Lichtenstein\u2019s cloud data account, quickly revealing him to be in possession of addresses containing the stolen funds. If Lichtenstein hadn\u2019t made the mistake of signing up for his cloud storage account using the same identity as he used for the Indian exchange, it is likely he and Morgan would have evaded detection.<\/p>\n<p><em>Image showing how authorities connected the stolen Bitcoin to Lichtenstein and Morgan. Source: DoJ<\/em><\/p>\n<p>A final point against Lichtenstein and Morgan\u2019s involvement in the hack is how the pair were cashing out their ill-gotten gains. The couple had used Walmart gift cards, Uber, Hotels.com, and the PlayStation store to cash out small amounts of their fortune, in addition to withdrawing funds from Bitcoin ATMs around New York to purchase gold bullion. Overall, the vast majority of Lichtenstein and Morgan\u2019s wealth was inaccessible to them. It again makes little sense that the pair would go to great lengths to steal so much cryptocurrency without having a viable plan to cash it all out.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Further developments in the case will likely shed more light on the situation and reveal if Lichtenstein and Morgan\u2019s arrests were part of a wider, more sophisticated operation. The one thing that seems clear is to expect the unexpected\u2014just because the situation is already absurd, it doesn\u2019t mean the truth can\u2019t turn out to be even wilder.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>Disclosure: At the time of writing this feature, the author owned ETH and several other cryptocurrencies.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Share this article<\/p>\n<p>The information on or accessed through this website is obtained from independent sources we believe to be accurate and reliable, but Decentral Media, Inc. makes no representation or warranty as to the timeliness, completeness, or accuracy of any information on or accessed through this website. Decentral Media, Inc. is not an investment advisor. We do not give personalized investment advice or other financial advice. The information on this website is subject to change without notice. Some or all of the information on this website may become outdated, or it may be or become incomplete or inaccurate. We may, but are not obligated to, update any outdated, incomplete, or inaccurate information.<\/p>\n<p>You should never make an investment decision on an ICO, IEO, or other investment based on the information on this website, and you should never interpret or otherwise rely on any of the information on this website as investment advice. We strongly recommend that you consult a licensed investment advisor or other qualified financial professional if you are seeking investment advice on an ICO, IEO, or other investment. We do not accept compensation in any form for analyzing or reporting on any ICO, IEO, cryptocurrency, currency, tokenized sales, securities, or commodities.<\/p>\n<p>See full terms and conditions.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"title\">DoJ Seizes $3.6B in Bitcoin From 2016 Bitfinex Hack<\/h3>\n<p>\nThe $3.6 billion sum makes it the Department of Justice\u2019s largest financial seizure in history.\u00a0 DoJ Recovers Funds From Bitfinex Hack U.S. officials have just confirmed the largest crypto seizure&#8230; <\/p>\n<h3 class=\"title\">Bitfinex to End Services for Ontario Customers by March<\/h3>\n<p>\nBitfinex has announced the suspension of services to its customers in Ontario. Moreover, the exchange has instructed its Ontario customers to withdraw their funds by March 1. Suspension of Services&#8230; <\/p>\n<h3 class=\"title\">A Guide to Yield Farming, Staking, and Liquidity Mining<\/h3>\n<p>\nYield farming is arguably the most popular way to earn a return on crypto assets. Essentially, you can\u00a0earn passive income\u00a0by depositing\u00a0crypto\u00a0into a liquidity pool. You can think of these liquidity&#8230; <\/p>\n<h3 class=\"title\">FTX Has Integrated Arbitrum. As for Coinbase? Pet Coins<\/h3>\n<p>\nFTX has announced support for Arbitrum withdrawals and deposits. Meanwhile, Coinbase has faced criticism for focusing on small cap coin listings instead of Layer 2 integration.\u00a0 FTX Launches Arbitrum Support&#8230; <\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\namzn_assoc_placement = \"adunit0\";\r\namzn_assoc_tracking_id = \"totafreearti-20\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_mode = \"search\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_type = \"smart\";\r\namzn_assoc_marketplace = \"amazon\";\r\namzn_assoc_region = \"US\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = \"bitcoin\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_category = \"All\";\r\namzn_assoc_search_bar = \"false\";\r\namzn_assoc_title = \"\";\r\namzn_assoc_rows =\"1\";\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/z-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/onejs?MarketPlace=US\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cryptobriefing.com\/what-we-know-about-the-bizarre-couple-charged-with-the-bitfinex-hack\/?utm_source=main_feed&#038;utm_medium=rss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways The U.S. Department of Justice has charged Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan for conspiracy to launder funds tied to the 2016 Bitfinex hack.\u00a0 The couple&#8217;s quirky online personas have led some to suggest that they are not behind the hack, despite the DoJ accusing them of laundering the stolen funds. While evidence suggests [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-market-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1786"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1788,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1786\/revisions\/1788"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}