Ilya Lichtenstein, who pleaded guilty last year to charges related to the theft of 120,000 bitcoins from Bitfinex in 2016, made his first public statement since his arrest in 2022.
In a five-minute video posted to X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, Lichtenstein reiterated that he was the hacker and that he acted alone, denying speculation in a Netflix documentary that his father (or, perhaps, some spy agency , perhaps Russia’s) could have been involved in the theft.
“My dad is not a hacker, he doesn’t even know how to use Instagram,” said Lichtenstein, who was sentenced to five years in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering, including time he was jailed after arrest while the case unfolded. earring.
“I offer my sincerest apologies to Bitfinex for all the stress I have caused them,” he said in the video, recorded from prison during a remote visit to his wife. “I knew what I was doing was wrong and I did it anyway because I didn’t care… I look back at the person I was then, and I hate myself. I hate myself.”
In the video, Lichtenstein also provided an update on the restitution of the funds he stole from Bitfinex.
“Over the past three years, I have worked hard to account for and return all assets down to the last satoshi, as required by my plea agreement, and I will continue to do so,” Lichtenstein said, showing dark circles under his eyes.
A restitution hearing is scheduled for February to determine whether they should be distributed to Bitfinex or its customers affected by the hack.
Razzlekhan speaks
Lichtenstein’s wife, Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to launder money and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Prosecutors said she became aware of the hack only years after the fact and that her husband recruited her to launder the stolen bitcoin.
“In many ways, my wife… is just another victim of my bad decisions,” Lichtenstein said in the video.
Last month, Morgan was sentenced to 18 months in prison for her supporting role in the Lichtenstein crimes.
“It’s good to start clearing up the public records surrounding our case,” Morgan told CoinDesk, referring to the video her husband posted. “You would think that would have happened after our sentencing memoranda were filed, but that actually hasn’t been the case. There are so many myths that I hope to debunk when we tell the real story.”
Best known for her ridiculous rap videos, Morgan recently started selling custom videos for $125 each on Cameo, a sort of non-porn version of Onlyfans. His prison sentence could begin next month.
“Despite everything you’ve read, my character Razzlekhan never had anything to do with this case other than the government mentioned him in their charging documents. I created Razzlekhan years before I knew my husband had hacked Bitfinex,” she said Morgan to CoinDesk.
“While our criminal case was open, I was unable to speak publicly or tell my story,” he said. “This also meant that I was unable to publish any articles or release new artwork or songs for the past three years. Now that the case is over, I hope to return to expressing myself freely and creatively. … I’m looking forward to telling the story of what really happened.”
It takes one to catch one
To atone for his misdeeds in court, Lichtenstein said that after serving his sentence he plans to pursue a career in fighting cybercrime.
In Tuesday’s video, Lichtenstein reiterated that promise.
“When I get out of prison… I plan to dedicate myself to working in the cybersecurity industry,” Lichtenstein said. “I know the cyber threats we face and I know how to stop them.”
The bitcoin stolen in the 2016 hack was worth $70 million at the time and around $12 billion today.
The Netflix documentary leaves viewers with the impression that a substantial portion of the stolen funds is still missing, but according to Lichtenstein’s lawyer, that is not the case.
“With significant help from Mr. Lichtenstein, the government has recovered nearly all of the assets stolen during the 2016 Bitfinex hack,” attorney Samson Enzer of Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP told CoinDesk. “In total, approximately 114,601 BTC (representing 96% of the approximately 119,754 BTC taken in the hack) was recovered, as well as 29 additional assets with substantial value.”
The U.S. Department of Justice did not respond by press time to CoinDesk’s inquiry about the percentage of stolen funds that were recovered.
