JUSTICE DEPARTMENT: Two Arrest Made in Manhattan Crypto Currency Seizure

A DOJ press release says a New York couple accused of conspiring to launder billions of dollars in cryptocurrency stolen from the 2016 hack of a virtual currency exchange. 

Federal officials said they recovered roughly $3.6 billon in cryptocurrency linked to the hack of Bitfinex.

Bitfinex was a virtual currency exchange whose systems were breached nearly six years ago.

Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein, a citizen of Russia and the United States, and his wife, Heather Morgan, were arrested in Manhattan.

They are accused of relying on various sophisticated techniques to launder the stolen money and conceal the transactions.

And they face federal charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States. 

They are in custody pending an appearance in Manhattan's federal court.

The stolen cryptocurrency, valued at $71 million at the time of the theft, is now valued at $4.5 billion.

So far the couple were not charged in the Bitfinex hack, which resulted in more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions.

Justice Department officials say that millions of dollars of the transactions were cashed out through bitcoin ATMs and used to purchase gold and non-fungible tokens as well as more mundane items like Walmart gift cards for personal expenses.