Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan have successfully negotiated a plea deal with US prosecutors. They are accused of laundering billions of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin that was stolen from the Bitfinex exchange in 2016.
The couple, who were first accused in the beginning of 2022, is due to seek a plea hearing and arraignment on August 3.
By no later than July 27, the parties must submit plea agreements that include several aspects of their costs and potential penalties.
The contentious couple was accused of laundering 119,754 Bitcoin, which have been stolen during the 2016 Bitfinex hack and have since grown in value to almost $4.5 billion.
Morgan, a multi-talented individual who describes themselves as a rapper, economist, and CEO among other things, and Lichtenstein are accused of moving the money through a darknet exchange linked to several crimes.
Additionally, they are accused of giving false information to digital currency exchanges and other financial institutions about the source of their funds and the nature of their transactions in an effort to get around anti-money laundering and know-your-customer regulations and prevent the reporting of suspicious activity experiences.
While under house arrest earlier this year, Morgan obtained a position as a development marketing and business development specialist with a private software company. Despite facing charges of conspiring to launder money and defraud the United States, a federal judge approved her request to work three days a week in the company’s New York City office; federal prosecutors did not object to the change.
