Ilya Lichtenstein, who was sentenced to five years in prison in November 2024 after pleading guilty to charges related to the 2016 hack of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, was released from prison after just 14 months behind bars.
“Thanks to the president [Donald] “Trump’s First Step Act has released me early,” Lichtenstein said on X on Thursday. “I remain committed to making a positive impact on cybersecurity as soon as I can.”
Trump signed the First Step Act, a prison and sentencing reform bill proposed and passed by lawmakers in 2018, supposedly intended to save taxpayers money.
Lichtenstein thanked his followers and criticized his “haters,” writing, “I hope to prove them wrong,” while reiterating that he “remains committed to making a positive impact on cybersecurity.”
While some congratulated Lichtenstein on X, others were less forgiving. A network investigator who goes by the name Specter on X posted a meme saying “crime is legal,” while CB32 asked “how much did you pay?” And Cryptoenthusiast asked: “Where are the 120,000 stolen from Bitfinex?”
Lichtenstein and his wife, rapper Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan, were arrested in February 2022. Morgan received an 18-month sentence and was released in October after serving approximately eight months.
The Bitfinex hack in August 2016 resulted in the theft of 119,754 BTC, worth approximately $71 million at the time, but more than $10 billion at current prices. Authorities recovered around 94,000 BTC, and in January 2025, US prosecutors filed a motion to have the recovered BTC returned to Bitfinex.
Lichtenstein pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering conspiracy and admitted hacking crypto assets. He also claimed that his wife had nothing to do with the crime. It managed to convert around 25,000 BTC into other cryptocurrencies and physical gold coins, most of which were recovered by the US government, according to a TRM report.
Lichtenstein’s release comes as President Trump’s use of executive clemency in cryptocurrency-related cases has drawn criticism, although Lichtenstein himself was not pardoned. Between January and October, Trump pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, Arthur Hayes and three other BitMex exchange co-founders convicted of Bank Secrecy Act violations, and Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who had pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering at the world’s largest exchange.
