Ilya Lichtenstein
The hacker who breached Bitfinex in 2016 and fraudulently transferred 119,754 BTC. He pleaded guilty in 2023 to a money-laundering conspiracy and admitted carrying out the hack; he was sentenced in November 2024 to five years in prison.
Also known as: Dutch, Ilya Lichtenstein
Bio
Ilya "Dutch" Lichtenstein hacked the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex in 2016, fraudulently authorizing more than 2,000 transactions that moved 119,754 bitcoin to a wallet he controlled, then deleting access logs to cover his tracks. He enlisted his wife, Heather Morgan, to help launder the proceeds. The couple was arrested in February 2022. [1][2]
Legal outcome
On August 3, 2023, Lichtenstein pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and admitted to committing the hack. On November 14, 2024, he was sentenced to 60 months (five years) in prison plus three years of supervised release. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
Linked scams & cases
Sources (2)
See also
- Blockchain Terminal (BCT)TokensA 2017–2018 ICO (BCT tokens, ~$30M) for a 'Blockchain Terminal' — a Bloomberg-style crypto trading terminal. The SEC and DOJ said convicted ex-hedge-funder Boaz Manor secretly ran it under a fake identity ('Shaun MacDonald'), using associate Edith Pardo as a front, and lied about the product's adoption.
- Dropil (DROP)TokensAn ICO for the DROP token built around a fake 'Dex' trading bot. The SEC said it raised ~$1.9M while claiming $54M from 34,000 investors, and that the founders falsified evidence during the probe. Founders Jeremy McAlpine and Zachary Matar pleaded guilty to securities fraud (36 and 30 months).
- CluCoin (CLU)Tokens
This page was last updated on Jun 8, 2026. View revision history.