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Ilya Lichtenstein, a resident of New York, has <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/03/new-york-man-admits-being-original-bitfinex-hacker-during-guilty-plea-in-dc-to-bitcoin-money-laundering.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">confessed</a> to his involvement in the laundering of stolen Bitcoin worth $4.5 billion that was taken during the 2016 Bitfinex hack. 
This is a significant development as the hacker’s identity was previously unknown.&nbsp; 
Despite doubts about the couple’s capacity for orchestrating such a crime, blockchain records revealed a clear trail from Bitfinex to a wallet found in Lichtenstein’s possession by authorities.&nbsp; 
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In February 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) seized a significant amount of stolen Bitcoin after making arrests. This action marked the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-arrested-alleged-conspiracy-launder-45-billion-stolen-cryptocurrency" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">biggest</a>&nbsp;asset forfeiture operation that the department has ever conducted. 
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While Lichtenstein has pleaded guilty, the couple has yet to be charged with the cyberattack. 
The guilty plea comes seven years after Bitfinex was hacked.&nbsp; 
Federal law enforcement and prosecutors worked for six years to find stolen funds. They discovered that most of the money was still in a wallet and hadn’t been used. 
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The investigation traced the movement of the currency from the wallet to the traditional banking system, leading to the identification of the suspects.&nbsp; 
The incident highlights the challenges of laundering cryptocurrency, as the transactions are permanently recorded on the blockchain. Despite the frequent occurrence of crypto hacks, identifying the perpetrators provides a sense of security that bad actors can be held accountable. 
 Read more: <a href="https://crypto.news/bitfinex-initiates-p2p-trading-service-in-argentina-colombia-and-venezuela/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> Bitfinex initiates P2P trading service in Argentina, Colombia, and Venezuela </a>

New York resident confesses to hacking Bitfinex in 2016

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