In summary
- Heather Morgan, known as “Razzlekhan,” was sentenced to 18 months in prison for her role in the 2016 Bitfinex hack.
- Her husband, Ilya Lichtenstein, received a 5-year sentence for orchestrating the hack and laundering over 119,000 stolen BTC.
- After years of mystery, Morgan and Lichtenstein were arrested in 2022; the stolen BTC were mostly recovered.
Heather Morgan, the rapper known as “Razzlekhan” turned Bitcoin thief, was sentenced to 18 months in a US federal prison on Monday for her role in the infamous 2016 Bitfinex hack, where Morgan and her husband stole $10.8 billion BTC (based on current price) from Cryptocurrency exchange.
Morgan received her sentence Monday afternoon in federal court in Washington, D.C. Last week, her husband Ilya Lichtenstein was sentenced to 5 years in prison for his lead role in orchestrating the couple’s Bitfinex hack, and then launder over 119,000 stolen BTC through various coin mixers and darknet markets.
“For the past three years I have been fighting a federal case, and I like to listen to my attorneys,” Morgan said Monday in a statement published on X. “Well, guess what, it’s over, and I’m very excited that soon “I will be telling my story, sharing my thoughts and telling you more about the creative projects and other projects I have been working on.”
The sentence concludes the saga of one of the largest cyber thefts in history. After years of mystery following the Bitfinex hack, Morgan and Lichtenstein were arrested by federal authorities in Manhattan in early 2022. At that time, the vast majority of the stolen BTC was recovered.
In the summer of last year, Lichtenstein and Morgan confessed to the crime and agreed to renounce all funds derived from it, including the gold coins the couple purchased with part of the BTC and buried to keep secret.
While Lichtenstein appears to have been the central figure responsible for carrying out the Bitfinex hack, his wife has attracted considerably more notoriety since the couple’s arrest.
Morgan, who before her arrest was a rapper, writer and social media influencer, left a trail of colorful posts online, including numerous idiosyncratic music videos. Her rapper name, “Razzlekhan,” was intended to evoke “Genghis Khan, but with more pizzazz,” according to the artist’s website.
In January, it was revealed that Amazon MGM Studios is developing a film based on Morgan’s life.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include Morgan’s statement to X.
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