Heather Morgan was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison for her involvement in laundering money from the 2016 Bitfinex hack. The self-proclaimed “Crocodile of Wall Street” collaborated with her husband in the laundering of Bitcoin, which is now worth $10 billion.
Her conviction came shortly after her husband, Ilya Lichtenstein, was sentenced to five years in prison for stealing 119,754 Bitcoin from the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange in 2016. The two confessed to their crimes last year, admitting to stealing more than $3 billion in Bitcoins from the exchange.
Lichtenstein, aged 35, maintained that Morgan was not involved in the actual break-in, but helped hide the stolen Bitcoins.
In a video published on X, Morgan said: “It’s over and I’m very excited to tell my story soon, share my thoughts and tell you more about my creative and other ventures.”
Couple’s cooperation with U.S. authorities helped them shorten prison sentences
The two could have been sentenced to longer sentences, but Morgan convinced Lichtenstein to help the U.S. in other cryptocurrency trials. This cooperation shortened their potential jail time.
Morgan and Lichtenstein used false identities and sent cryptocurrencies in small amounts to avoid detection, according to court documents. Authorities arrested them in February 2022 at their luxury Wall Street apartment.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly addressed Morgan, stating that her “actions were deliberate” and highlighted the elaborate planning. Although the judge acknowledged Morgan’s sincere regrets and that her likelihood of reoffending was low, she agreed with prosecutors that imprisonment was necessary to deter other crimes.
Last month, Morgan’s lawyers appealed to a federal court in Washington, D.C., for a “deferred sentence.” They pointed to the harsh conditions she faced during her brief pretrial detention, including recovering from surgery and contracting COVID-19.
She remained at large on personal bail, which allowed her to be released without bail pending sentencing. After serving her prison sentence, she will serve 36 months of parole and pay a fine of $200.
At the time of the Bitfinex hack, the stolen Bitcoin was worth about $71 million. Today, as Bitcoin’s price has risen to more than $90,000, its value has reached billions. According to the government, the couple laundered 21% of the stolen amount.
