Two individuals were arrested this morning in Manhattan for an alleged conspiracy to launder bitcoin (BTC) that was stolen during the 2016 hack of Bitfinex, presently valued at approximately USD 4.5bn, the US Department of Justice said.
According to them, thus far, law enforcement has seized over USD 3.6bn in BTC linked to that hack.
Per the DoJ, the suspects, Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and his wife, Heather Morgan, 31, both of New York, are scheduled to make their initial appearances in federal court today at 3:00 PM local time in Manhattan.
They are charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and conspiracy to defraud the United States, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, the DoJ said.
According to the department, this is what happened:
(This is a developing story and is being constantly updated)
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