The married couple accused of trying to launder roughly $4.5 billion of hacked bitcoin were given different pretrial fates Monday – with a federal judge ordering the husband to remain in custody while his wife can be released on bond.
The decision by Chief Judge Beryl Howell at the couple’s detention hearing in a Washington, DC, court overturns part of the ruling last week by a Manhattan federal magistrate judge who had allowed a bond release for both Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein, 34, and his 31-year-old rapper wife Heather Morgan.
Howell made the split decision that kept Lichtenstein behind bars, in part, by ruling that he was a greater flight risk than his wife given the evidence against him and his alleged familiarity with fake personas, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The couple have been charged with conspiring to commit money laundering for allegedly trying to wash the proceeds of 119,754 bitcoin that were looted when a hacker breached the systems of virtual currency exchange Bitfinex, federal prosecutors have said.
The stolen bitcoin was allegedly transferred to a digital wallet controlled by Lichtenstein.
The couple is accused of trying to launder roughly $4.5 billion of hacked bitcoin. U.S. District Court for the DistHe and his wife — a self-professed “surrealist rap” creator — then moved the funds to their accounts via “a complicated money laundering process,” prosecutors said.
The Justice Department said special agents were able to recover over $3.6 billion in bitcoin stolen during the Bitfinex hack — its largest-ever financial seizure. But federal prosecutors allege the duo still have access to $300 million worth of the cryptocurrency, according to Coindesk.com.
Morgan has released a number of rap songs under the alter ego “Razzlekhan,” described as “like Genghis Khan, but with more pizzazz” on her website.
Morgan, also known as rapper “Razzlekhan,” and her husband allegedly moved the funds to their accounts through a laundering scheme. YouTubeIn one eccentric 2019 music video titled “Rap Anthem for Misfits & Weirdos: Versace Bedouin Music Video,” Morgan can be seen cavorting with an entourage near Wall Street in a gold jacket, leopard-print scarf and sunglasses as she raps: “Come real far but I don’t know where I’m headin’. I’m the motherf–ing crocodile of Wall Street.”
