$PNUT $PROS $PEPE 14 November, a US court sentenced Ilya Lichtenstein to five years in prison for laundering money obtained as a result of the hack of the Bitfinex exchange in 2016.

Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan were detained in February 2022 on suspicion of involvement in the attack on the exchange. At that time, 94,643 BTC (about $3.6 billion at the time) of the stolen 119,754 BTC were seized from the couple.

In August 2023, both pleaded guilty to money laundering, but Lichtenstein did not admit his role in the hack. Under the charges brought against him, he faced up to 20 years in prison, and Morgan - up to ten.

In addition to five years in prison, the convicted man was given three years of probation. Morgan will be sentenced on November 18. Prosecutors have proposed 18 months in prison for her.

According to court documents, the criminals managed to launder approximately 25,000 BTC ($2.2 billion). To do this, they used “advanced methods,” including using fake identities to create accounts and software to automate transactions. The stolen bitcoins were transferred through darknet marketplaces and crypto exchanges, and then converted into other digital assets and passed through mixers.