Heather Morgan Sentenced to 18 Months for Laundering Funds from Bitfinex Hack: File

Heather Morgan, broadly identified by her rap persona “Razzlekhan,” has been sentenced to 18 months in penitentiary for her characteristic in laundering funds stolen for the interval of the 2016 Bitfinex cryptocurrency hack.

Morgan pleaded responsible to conspiracy charges connected to money laundering and defrauding the US earlier this one year.

A Deliberate Blueprint

In accordance with a CoinDesk file, Make a choice Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., described Morgan’s actions as calculated and intentional for the interval of the sentencing:

“These are severe offences,” the dangle remarked. “You were staunch partners on this laundering scheme … You presumably didn’t pause voluntarily nonetheless stopped must you obtained arrested.”

Whereas Morgan on the foundation claimed she was once blind to the hack, authorities argued her actions after learning about it demonstrated active involvement. She was once accused of helping by the exercise of complex how to cowl the origins of the stolen funds.

These integrated “chain hopping” by changing cryptocurrency all over diversified blockchains, the exercise of mixing products and services to anonymize transactions, depositing funds into darknet markets, and exchanging property for gold cash.

Morgan also for my portion buried the gold cash. A attorney for the prosecution emphasized, “She was once the one that dug the hole,” adding that “She jumped into the conspiracy.”

Her husband, Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein, who utilized the hack, obtained a five-one year penitentiary sentence final week. The theft alive to practically 120,000 Bitcoin, valued at $71 million on the time and impress billions nowadays.

Remorse and Calls for Leniency

Morgan expressed remorse for the interval of the hearing, tearfully addressing the court. “I am extremely sorry and deeply be apologetic regarding the picks I made,” she talked about. “The harm I’ve precipitated will dangle-out me for the rest of my life.”

Her attorney argued that the 34-one year-ragged’s public persona as “Razzlekhan” had subjected her to reputational harm, calling her rap profession “a fictional character” misunderstood by the final public. He requested that her sentence be restricted to the 17 days she had already served in penitentiary and the dwelling confinement she has persevered since 2022.

Family and company from Dubai and Hong Kong appeared in court to aid her, engaging for leniency. The dangle acknowledged Morgan’s aid network nonetheless emphasized the must deter connected crimes in the crypto sector.  She also authorized the importance of retaining people responsible, in particular in an alternate tormented by illegal activity.

Morgan will file to penitentiary in early 2024, the loyal date of which has but to be sure. Hours after the hearing, she posted a video on-line stating she would soon fragment her facet of the narrative, having stayed nonetheless for the interval of the supreme court cases.