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.
Sources (2)
See also
Luke BelmarIndividualsCryptocurrency influencer Luke Belmar (@lukebelmar on X) became the subject of controversy following allegations related to the promotion of a memecoin. Critics on social media alleged that Belmar used a series of posts referencing a forthcoming cryptocurrency project and a large-scale airdrop to generate interest in a token without explicitly identifying a specific contract address. Belmar published multiple posts discussing an upcoming memecoin, describing plans for what he characterized as a major airdrop and making comparisons to other cryptocurrency projects. Because no contract address was publicly provided, several tokens emerged claiming association with his statements. Critics alleged that this ambiguity enabled speculation around multiple tokens while avoiding a direct endorsement of any particular asset.
- 2025 Czech government Bitcoin scandalOtherA political-corruption scandal in which the Czech Ministry of Justice, under minister Pavel Blažek, accepted a donation of 468 bitcoin (~$45M) in early 2025 from Tomáš Jiříkovský, a convicted darknet/drug figure, then sold part of it. After Deník N revealed the deal in May 2025, Blažek resigned, a criminal money-laundering investigation followed, and the government narrowly survived a no-confidence vote.
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