Jan 05, 2026Ravie LakshmananCryptocurrency / Monetary Crime
Ilya Lichtenstein, who was sentenced to jail final 12 months for cash laundering fees in connection together with his function within the huge hack of cryptocurrency trade Bitfinex in 2016, stated he has been launched early.
In a put up shared on X final week, the 38-year-old introduced his launch, crediting U.S. President Donald Trump’s First Step Act. In accordance with the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ inmate locator, Lichtenstein is scheduled for launch on February 9, 2026.
“I stay dedicated to creating a optimistic affect in cybersecurity as quickly as I can,” Lichtenstein added. “To the supporters, thanks for the whole lot. To the haters, I look ahead to proving you unsuitable.”
The First Step Act, handed by the Trump administration in 2018, is a bipartisan laws that goals to enhance felony justice outcomes and cut back the federal jail inhabitants by means of a sequence of reforms, together with by establishing a “danger and wishes evaluation system” to find out the recidivism danger and chart a manner ahead for an early launch in some instances.
Lichtenstein and his spouse, Heather Rhiannon “Razzlekhan” Morgan, pleaded responsible to the Bitfinex hack in 2023, following their arrest in February 2022. The 2016 safety breach enabled Lichtenstein to fraudulently authorize greater than 2,000 transactions, transferring 119,754 bitcoin (then price roughly $71 million) from Bitfinex to a cryptocurrency pockets in his management.
Legislation enforcement authorities additionally recovered roughly 94,000 bitcoin (valued at round $3.6 billion in 2022), making it one of many largest seizures within the historical past of the U.S. In January 2025, U.S. prosecutors filed a movement for the recovered belongings to be returned to Bitfinex.
Blockchain intelligence agency TRM Labs stated Lichtenstein exploited a vulnerability in Bitfinex’s multi-signature withdrawal setup to provoke and authorize withdrawals from Bitfinex with out requiring approvals from BitGo, a third-party digital asset belief firm.
Whereas the illicit proceeds had been subsequently transformed to different cryptocurrencies and funneled by means of mixing providers like Bitcoin Fog, the couple’s function got here to gentle following the acquisition of Walmart present playing cards utilizing the stolen bitcoin at an unnamed digital foreign money trade. The present playing cards had been redeemed utilizing Walmart’s iPhone app below an account in Morgan’s title.
Lichtenstein was sentenced to 5 years in jail in November 2024. Morgan, who was sentenced to 18 months of incarceration shortly after, posted on X in late October 2025, stating she was launched “like a month in the past” and that “jail was chill sufficient.”
In a press release shared with CNBC, a Trump administration official stated Lichtenstein “served important time on his sentence and is at the moment on residence confinement in step with statute and Bureau of Prisons insurance policies.” Morgan additionally acknowledged the information with a message on X, saying, “One of the best New Years current I may get was lastly having my husband residence after 4 years of being aside.”
