US prosecutor requests court to sentence Heather Morgan, money laundering accomplice in Bitfinex hack case, to 18 months in prison

According to CoinDesk, US prosecutors are demanding an 18 month prison sentence for Heather Morgan (better known by her rapper stage name "Razzlekhan") for her involvement in the laundering of 120000 bitcoins stolen from Bitfinex in the 2016 hacking attack. In August 2023, Morgan pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering conspiracy and one count of fraud against the United States conspiracy, each of which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Although initially it was believed that Morgan and her husband Ilya Lichtenstein had only laundered hacker proceeds (worth approximately $7.5 billion in today's value), Lichtenstein later admitted to being the original hacker and pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to launder money, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. According to court documents, Lichtenstein carried out the hacking attack alone in 2016 and did not inform his wife of the incident or seek her assistance in money laundering until four years later in 2020, making her an accomplice to the crime. Considering Morgan's early assumption of responsibility and 'providing significant assistance to law enforcement', as well as the fact that she spent very little of her own criminal proceeds, the prosecutor recommends a lighter sentence for her. In addition to demanding that Morgan be imprisoned, the prosecutor also requested that the court order her to directly return the cryptocurrency seized from the Bitfinex hacker wallet to Bitfinex as physical compensation. These cryptocurrencies include approximately 94643.29837084 BTC, 117376.52651940 BCH, 117376.58178024 BSV, and 118102.0325847 BTG, valued at over $6 billion at current prices. Morgan will be sentenced on November 15th at 2pm in Washington D.C., one day later than Lichtenstein.