A hacker attacked and stole 20 million USD from a cryptocurrency wallet likely controlled by the U.S. government on October 24. This amount is part of the recovery from the 2016 Bitfinex exchange hack.
According to a report from Arkham Intelligence on October 24, the hacker infiltrated a wallet believed to be under the control of the U.S. government and successfully withdrew 20 million USD. This wallet holds various types of seized digital assets, including USDC, USDT, and ETH.
After seizing the assets, the hacker quickly transferred the money to a wallet starting with '0x348' and proceeded to convert stablecoin to ETH. To conceal the flow of money, the hacker used multiple addresses related to money laundering services.
Source: Arkham Intelligence
The stolen funds are related to the Bitfinex attack in 2016, when Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan stole 120,000 Bitcoin, currently estimated to be worth about 8.2 billion USD. U.S. authorities arrested both in 2022 and recovered this Bitcoin, marking the largest seizure of digital assets in the history of the U.S. Department of Justice.
In the trial in July 2023, Lichtenstein and Morgan admitted to charges related to money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the government. Lichtenstein initially only pleaded guilty to money laundering but later confessed to being the mastermind behind the Bitfinex hack.
Prosecutors proposed a sentence of 5 years in prison for Lichtenstein and 18 months for Morgan, considering their cooperation during the investigation. This sentence is significantly lighter than the initial sentencing range, which could have reached up to 20 years for Lichtenstein.
