The US has recovered 94,000 bitcoins stolen more than five years ago. The catch is currently worth more than $3.6 billion, making it the largest judicial seizure ever in the US. The US Department of Justice announced this. Two suspects have been arrested.
The crypto coins were stolen in August 2016 when the virtual exchange platform Bitfinex was hacked. Police have now managed to arrest a couple in New York in connection with that theft.
Ilya Lichtenstein (34) and his wife, Heather Morgan (31), have tried to launder the stolen bitcoins ‘through a maze of transactions’. The two are due to appear in federal court on Tuesday afternoon (local time).
“The federal judicial authorities are demonstrating once again today that we can track money via blockchain. We will not accept that cryptocurrencies provide a safe haven for money laundering or constitute a zone of lawlessness within our financial system,” the statement said.
According to the prosecution, the stolen bitcoins were sent to a digital wallet managed by Lichtenstein. In total, more than 119,000 bitcoins were stolen during the Bitfinex hack. More than 25,000 of those coins went through a series of transactions, ultimately resulting in deposits into Lichtenstein and Morgan accounts.