{"investigation":{"slug":"bitfinex-hack","entity_name":"Bitfinex Hack","trust_score":0,"severity_base":null,"score_modifier":-15,"confidence":0.97,"status":"under_investigation","content_type":"investigation","summary":"On August 2, 2016, the Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex was breached by Ilya Lichtenstein, who exploited weaknesses in the exchange's BitGo multi-signature wallet setup to authorize roughly 2,000 withdrawals and steal about 119,756 BTC, worth approximately $72 million at the time. Bitfinex socialized the loss across all customers with a 36.067% haircut and issued BFX recovery tokens, which it fully redeemed or converted to equity by April 2017. In February 2022 the U.S. Department of Justice arrested Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan and seized about 94,000 BTC worth $3.6 billion, then the largest financial seizure in DOJ history; both pleaded guilty in August 2023, were sentenced in November 2024 and have since been released early, while the return of the recovered bitcoin to Bitfinex remained incomplete as of mid-2026.","sections":[{"content":"On August 2, 2016, Ilya Lichtenstein breached Bitfinex in one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in history. Bitfinex operated a 2-of-3 multi-signature arrangement per user wallet in partnership with the security firm BitGo: Bitfinex held two keys (one described as offline) and BitGo held the third as co-signer. Lichtenstein found a way to bypass BitGo's co-signing approval and initiated more than 2,000 withdrawal transactions to a wallet under his control. According to a confidential post-incident report by the Canadian consultancy Ledger Labs, as described by OCCRP, Bitfinex had placed two of the three required keys on the same server or device, creating a single point of failure; once Lichtenstein gained access to that server, he obtained administrative tokens that let him raise per-transaction withdrawal limits and bypass BitGo's approval, draining nearly one-sixth of the exchange's monthly trading volume in under a minute. Bitfinex also reportedly had no withdrawal whitelist and no off-server activity logging, both of which BitGo had reportedly recommended.\n\nReports differ slightly on the amount stolen: 119,756 BTC according to Wikipedia and the CoinDesk/Fortune reporting cited on both merged pages, and approximately 119,754 BTC in the DOJ's later court announcements. The stolen bitcoin was valued at approximately $71–72 million at the time. Bitfinex halted all trading and withdrawals, and bitcoin's market price fell approximately 20% after the announcement, reducing the immediate dollar value of the stolen funds to around $58 million. Lichtenstein subsequently deleted access credentials and log files from Bitfinex's network in an effort to cover his tracks.","heading":"The August 2016 Breach","sources":[{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Bitfinex_hack","name":"2016 Bitfinex Hack - Wikipedia","type":"other","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2016/08/03/the-bitfinex-bitcoin-hack-what-we-know-and-dont-know","name":"The Bitfinex Bitcoin Hack: What We Know (And Don't Know) - CoinDesk","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://fortune.com/2016/08/03/bitcoin-stolen-bitfinex-hack-hong-kong/","name":"Bitcoin Worth $72M Was Stolen in Bitfinex Exchange Hack - Fortune","type":"news_article","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2016/08/05/what-the-bitfinex-hack-means-for-bitcoin-multi-sig-security","name":"What the Bitfinex Hack Means for Bitcoin Multi-Sig Security - CoinDesk","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.occrp.org/en/feature/confidential-report-flags-bitfinex-security-lapses-in-huge-2016-hack","name":"Confidential Report Flags Bitfinex Security Lapses in Huge 2016 Hack — OCCRP","type":"news_article","credibility":1}],"severity":"critical"},{"content":"An investigative report by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), published in May 2023, revealed the existence of the confidential post-hack forensic report that iFinex, Bitfinex's parent company, had commissioned from Ledger Labs and never made public. According to OCCRP, the Ledger Labs analysis concluded that Bitfinex had failed to implement multiple security controls recommended by BitGo, and that the co-location of keys on a single server, a decision attributable to Bitfinex's own operational choices, was the proximate cause of the breach. The analysis reportedly traced the originating IP addresses to Poland. Bitfinex disputed the findings, calling the report 'incomplete' and 'incorrect', and pointed to alleged 'evidence of negligence on the part of other counterparties' without publicly naming them. BitGo maintained it was not at fault, a position Bitfinex publicly endorsed at the time of the breach.","heading":"Suppressed Security Audit and Dispute Over Fault","sources":[{"url":"https://www.occrp.org/en/feature/confidential-report-flags-bitfinex-security-lapses-in-huge-2016-hack","name":"Confidential Report Flags Bitfinex Security Lapses in Huge 2016 Hack — OCCRP","type":"news_article","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/2016-crypto-hack-bitfinex-hid-a-report-that-flagged-security-flaws-occrp/","name":"2016 Crypto Hack: Bitfinex Hid a Report that Flagged Security Flaws — Finance Magnates","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"high"},{"content":"Rather than limiting losses to the accounts that were directly breached or absorbing them at the corporate level, Bitfinex applied a controversial 'generalized loss' policy: all customer balances, including those of users whose assets were untouched by the hack, were reduced by a uniform 36.067%, reflecting the ratio of stolen funds to total exchange holdings. Sources differ on the date the haircut was announced or implemented: August 6, 2016 per the bitfinex-hack page's timeline and August 7, 2016 per the bitfinex-hack-2016 page, both citing Wikipedia.\n\nIn compensation, Bitfinex issued BFX tokens at 1 BFX per U.S. dollar of loss. The tokens could be traded on the open market (they opened trading on Bitfinex at roughly $0.30, implying significant market skepticism about full redemption), redeemed by Bitfinex at a face value of $1.00, or converted into equity shares of iFinex Inc. at the same rate. Customers who converted BFX into iFinex equity also received Recovery Right Tokens (RRTs), entitling holders to up to $1.00 per RRT from any future recovery of the stolen bitcoin, after outstanding BFX obligations were satisfied. On April 3, 2017, about eight months after the breach, Bitfinex announced that all outstanding BFX tokens had been redeemed at $1.00 or converted to iFinex equity, eliminating direct customer liabilities from the hack.","heading":"Socialized Losses and BFX Token Recovery Program","sources":[{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Bitfinex_hack","name":"2016 Bitfinex Hack - Wikipedia","type":"other","credibility":2},{"url":"https://support.bitfinex.com/hc/en-us/articles/4417401349657-2016-Security-Breach-Bitcoin-Recovery-Frequently-Asked-Questions-FAQ","name":"2016 Security Breach Bitcoin Recovery FAQ - Bitfinex Support","type":"official","credibility":2},{"url":"https://news.bitcoin.com/bitfinex-bfx-tokens-redeemed/","name":"Bitfinex Makes Good on Debt, 100% of BFX Tokens Redeemed - Bitcoin.com News","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://support.bitfinex.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003282929-Recovery-Right-Tokens-RRT","name":"Recovery Right Tokens (RRT) - Bitfinex Help Center","type":"official","credibility":2},{"url":"https://blog.bitfinex.com/announcements/bitfinex-recovery-right-tokens/","name":"Bitfinex Recovery Right Tokens - Bitfinex Blog","type":"official","credibility":2},{"url":"https://blog.bitfinex.com/announcements/100-redemption-outstanding-bfx-tokens/","name":"100% Redemption of Outstanding BFX Tokens — Bitfinex Blog","type":"official","credibility":2}],"severity":"high"},{"content":"After the theft, Lichtenstein enlisted his wife Heather Morgan to help launder the stolen funds. Over the following years they used numerous methods, including fictitious identities to open accounts at cryptocurrency exchanges; automated scripts to conduct layered, split transactions; deposits into darknet markets followed by withdrawals of equivalent amounts as a mixing technique (notably using the darknet market AlphaBay in January 2017 as a de facto mixer before its shutdown in 2017); converting bitcoin into other cryptocurrencies ('chain hopping'); bitcoin mixing services; U.S.-based business accounts to lend transactions a veneer of legitimacy; and converting some proceeds into physical gold coins, which the DOJ said were shipped to Lichtenstein's home address. Morgan, who performed as a rapper under the pseudonym 'Razzlekhan' and wrote business columns as the 'Crocodile of Wall Street', played a supporting role in moving funds and establishing accounts. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic tracked proceeds from the stolen funds moving through these channels over a period of approximately six years.","heading":"Money Laundering Operation (2016–2022)","sources":[{"url":"https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/bitfinex-hack-plea-july-2023/","name":"Bitfinex Hack Money Launderers Plead Guilty - Chainalysis","type":"research","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.elliptic.co/blog/elliptic-analysis-bitcoin-bitfinex-theft","name":"Elliptic Follows the $7 Billion in Bitcoin Stolen from Bitfinex in 2016","type":"research","credibility":2},{"url":"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","name":"Bitcoin Launderer Pleads Guilty, Admits to Massive Bitfinex Hack - CNBC","type":"news_article","credibility":1},{"url":"https://time.com/6146749/cryptocurrency-laundering-bitfinex-hack/","name":"How DOJ Tracked Down the Bitcoin Stolen in Bitfinex Hack - TIME","type":"news_article","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/two-arrested-alleged-conspiracy-launder-45-billion-stolen-cryptocurrency","name":"Two Arrested for Alleged Conspiracy to Launder $4.5 Billion in Stolen Cryptocurrency — DOJ","type":"regulatory","credibility":1}],"severity":"critical"},{"content":"On February 8, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrest in New York City of Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and Heather Morgan, 31, on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Using a search warrant, federal agents had obtained access to a cloud storage account controlled by Lichtenstein containing a file with the private keys and wallet addresses for the primary wallet holding the stolen bitcoin. This allowed investigators to seize more than 94,000 BTC, valued at approximately $3.6 billion at the time of seizure, the largest financial seizure in DOJ history up to that date. The government put the total value of the approximately 119,754 stolen BTC alleged to have been laundered, including coins already dissipated, at approximately $4.5 billion. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) conducted the investigation.","heading":"2022 Arrests and DOJ Asset Seizure","sources":[{"url":"https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/two-arrested-alleged-conspiracy-launder-45-billion-stolen-cryptocurrency","name":"Two Arrested for Alleged Conspiracy to Launder $4.5 Billion in Stolen Cryptocurrency — DOJ","type":"regulatory","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/02/08/bitfinex-hack-bitcoin-arrests/","name":"Ilya Lichtenstein, Heather Morgan Arrested - Washington Post","type":"news_article","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/08/feds-seize-3point6-billion-stolen-from-bitfinex-hack.html","name":"Feds Seize $3.6 Billion in Bitcoin Stolen from Bitfinex Hack - CNBC","type":"news_article","credibility":1},{"url":"https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/08/married-tech-entrepreneurs-arrested-charged-with-laundering-funds-from-bitfinex-crypto-hack/","name":"DOJ Seizes $3.6B in Bitcoins - TechCrunch","type":"news_article","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-homeland-security-investigations-partners-investigation-leading-2-arrests-alleged","name":"ICE HSI Partners in Investigation Leading to 2 Arrests - ICE.gov","type":"regulatory","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/02/08/us-officials-seize-bitcoin-from-2016-bitfinex-hack","name":"US Officials Seize Bitcoin from 2016 Bitfinex Hack - CoinDesk","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-08/doj-seizes-3-6-billion-in-bitcoin-stolen-in-2016-bitfinex-hack","name":"DOJ Seizes $3.6 Billion in Bitcoin Stolen in Bitfinex Hack — Bloomberg","type":"news_article","credibility":1}],"severity":"critical"},{"content":"On August 3, 2023, Lichtenstein and Morgan pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Lichtenstein pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and admitted publicly for the first time that he had carried out the original 2016 hack of Bitfinex, not merely the laundering. Morgan pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering conspiracy and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. The DOJ said the couple conspired to launder the proceeds of approximately 119,754 BTC stolen from Bitfinex.\n\nOn November 14, 2024, Lichtenstein was sentenced to 60 months (five years) in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. Morgan was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison, a lighter sentence reflecting her lesser culpability; reports differ on the date, November 18, 2024 according to CoinDesk, Bloomberg and Axios, while the bitfinex-hack-2016 page's timeline places both sentencings on November 14, 2024. Both sentences were below the maximum applicable under the charges.","heading":"Guilty Pleas and Sentencing","sources":[{"url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/husband-and-wife-plead-guilty-money-laundering-conspiracy-involving-hack-and-theft","name":"Husband and Wife Plead Guilty to Money Laundering Conspiracy - DOJ","type":"regulatory","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/03/investing/crypto-couple-plead-guilty/index.html","name":"Bitcoin Bonnie and Clyde Plead Guilty - CNN Business","type":"news_article","credibility":1},{"url":"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","name":"Bitcoin Launderer Pleads Guilty, Admits to Massive Bitfinex Hack - CNBC","type":"news_article","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/bitfinex-hacker-sentenced-money-laundering-conspiracy-involving-billions-stolen","name":"Bitfinex Hacker Sentenced in Money Laundering Conspiracy - DOJ","type":"regulatory","credibility":1},{"url":"https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/bitfinex-hacker-sentenced-to-5-years.html","name":"Bitfinex Hacker Sentenced to 5 Years - The Hacker News","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/11/18/bitfinex-hack-launderer-heather-razzlekhan-morgan-sentenced-to-18-months-in-prison","name":"Bitfinex Hack Launderer Heather 'Razzlekhan' Morgan Sentenced - CoinDesk","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.trmlabs.com/resources/blog/ilya-lichtenstein-sentenced-for-role-in-bitfinex-hack-in-razzlekhan-case-as-government-recovers-about-10-billion-in-stolen-funds","name":"Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather 'Razzlekhan' Morgan Sentenced - TRM Labs Blog","type":"research","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.axios.com/2024/11/15/bitcoin-hacker-sentenced-stolen-crypto-laundering-bitfinex","name":"Hacker Who Laundered Billions Sentenced to 5 Years - Axios","type":"news_article","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.axios.com/2024/11/19/razzlekhan-bitfinex-prison-sentence","name":"Heather Razzlekhan Morgan Sentenced to 18 Months - Axios","type":"news_article","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-18/hacker-s-wife-razzlekhan-gets-18-months-for-money-laundering","name":"Razzlekhan Heather Morgan Gets 18 Months for Money Laundering - Bloomberg","type":"news_article","credibility":1}],"severity":"critical"},{"content":"Morgan was released after serving approximately eight months of her 18-month sentence. On January 2, 2026, Lichtenstein was released from federal prison to home confinement after serving approximately 14 months of his five-year sentence. He publicly credited the First Step Act, a bipartisan prison reform law signed by President Trump in 2018 that lets non-violent federal inmates earn time credits through work, education and rehabilitation programs, and attributed his release to Trump on social media. Because his conviction for money laundering conspiracy is classified as non-violent, he qualified for accumulated time credits. An administration official confirmed that he was released to home confinement in line with Bureau of Prisons policy (described as a 'Trump administration official' on one merged page and a 'White House official' on the other).","heading":"Early Releases (2025–2026)","sources":[{"url":"https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2026/01/02/crypto-hacker-ilya-lichtenstein-credits-trump-s-first-step-act-for-early-prison-release","name":"Ilya Lichtenstein Credits Trump's First Step Act for Early Release - CoinDesk","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/02/bitcoin-hacker-ilya-lichtenstein-bitfinex-razzlekhan.html","name":"Bitcoin Hacker Ilya Lichtenstein Thanks Trump for Early Prison Release - CNBC","type":"news_article","credibility":1},{"url":"https://thehackernews.com/2026/01/bitfinex-hack-convict-ilya-lichtenstein.html","name":"Bitfinex Hack Convict Ilya Lichtenstein Released Early - The Hacker News","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/03/bitfinex-hacker-ilya-lichtenstein-credits-trump-for-early-release-from-prison/","name":"Bitfinex Hacker Ilya Lichtenstein Credits Trump for Early Release - TechCrunch","type":"news_article","credibility":1}],"severity":"medium"},{"content":"The approximately 94,000 BTC seized in February 2022 remained in government custody pending legal proceedings. By the November 2024 sentencing, the government had recovered assets related to the case worth approximately $10 billion, reflecting additional seizures and bitcoin's price appreciation since 2022. A court-ordered restitution of approximately $9 billion in bitcoin was also reported.\n\nWho should receive the recovered funds was contested. Individual customers, including RRT holders, argued they retained claims on the recovered bitcoin. The merged pages describe the legal basis for restitution differently: one reports that the U.S. government filed documents designating Bitfinex as the sole eligible victim for restitution, excluding customers who had been compensated through the BFX program (CryptoSlate, CoinTelegraph); the other reports that in January 2025 a federal court ruled that Bitfinex and its users did not meet the technical criteria for 'victim' status under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act, but used plea-agreement provisions allowing voluntary restitution to order the return of approximately 94,000 BTC to Bitfinex in kind (BeInCrypto, Bitcoin.com News).\n\nBitfinex is contractually obliged to use recovered funds first to redeem outstanding RRTs; approximately 30 million RRTs remain in circulation, and Bitfinex has said the recovered amount may be insufficient to redeem all of them at full value. Accounts of what happens next also differ in emphasis: one page reports Bitfinex stated it would use 80% of recovered proceeds to buy back and burn its LEO token while returning a portion to select customers in cash, while the other reports that, under the terms of the LEO token offering, up to 80% of any assets remaining after RRT redemption would be distributed to holders of UNUS SED LEO (LEO) tokens over an 18-month period. A formal transfer of the coins from government custody to Bitfinex had not been completed as of mid-2026.","heading":"Asset Recovery and Restitution","sources":[{"url":"https://www.trmlabs.com/resources/blog/ilya-lichtenstein-sentenced-for-role-in-bitfinex-hack-in-razzlekhan-case-as-government-recovers-about-10-billion-in-stolen-funds","name":"Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather 'Razzlekhan' Morgan Sentenced - TRM Labs Blog","type":"research","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/bitfinex-hacker-sentenced-money-laundering-conspiracy-involving-billions-stolen","name":"Bitfinex Hacker Sentenced in Money Laundering Conspiracy - DOJ","type":"regulatory","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/20/battle-over-billions-in-stolen-bitcoin-recovered-in-doj-seizure-.html","name":"Customers Battle to Regain Billions in Bitcoin - CNBC","type":"news_article","credibility":1},{"url":"https://cryptoslate.com/bitfinex-deemed-sole-victim-eligible-for-recovery-of-7-4-billion-bitcoin-hack/","name":"Bitfinex Deemed Sole Victim Eligible for Recovery of $7.4 Billion Bitcoin Hack - CryptoSlate","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitfinex-2016-bitcoin-hack-restitution-us-government","name":"Only Bitfinex May Get Restitution in 2016 Hack - CoinTelegraph","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://news.bitcoin.com/court-orders-9-billion-bitcoin-restitution-in-bitfinex-hack-case/","name":"Court Orders $9 Billion Bitcoin Restitution in Bitfinex Hack Case - Bitcoin.com News","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://cryptoslate.com/bitfinex-to-recoup-stolen-bitcoin-after-us-restitution-mandate/","name":"Bitfinex to Recoup Stolen Bitcoin After US Restitution Mandate - CryptoSlate","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://beincrypto.com/bitfinex-hack-9-billion-bitcoin-recovery/","name":"Bitfinex Hack Update 2025: $9 Billion in Bitcoin to be Returned — BeInCrypto","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://support.bitfinex.com/hc/en-us/articles/4417401349657-2016-Security-Breach-Bitcoin-Recovery-Frequently-Asked-Questions-FAQ","name":"2016 Security Breach Bitcoin Recovery FAQ - Bitfinex Support","type":"official","credibility":2}],"severity":"high"}],"timeline":[{"date":"2016-08","event":"Ilya Lichtenstein breaches Bitfinex (August 2), executing about 2,000 unauthorized withdrawals totaling roughly 119,756 BTC (about $72 million) to a wallet under his control.","source":"2016 Bitfinex Hack - Wikipedia","source_url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Bitfinex_hack"},{"date":"2016-08","event":"Bitfinex publicly discloses the breach and halts all trading and withdrawals; bitcoin's price falls approximately 20%.","source":"The Bitfinex Bitcoin Hack: What We Know (And Don't Know) - CoinDesk","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2016/08/03/the-bitfinex-bitcoin-hack-what-we-know-and-dont-know"},{"date":"2016-08","event":"Bitfinex applies a 36.067% 'generalized haircut' to all customer balances and issues BFX tokens at 1 BFX per $1 of loss.","source":"2016 Bitfinex Hack - Wikipedia","source_url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Bitfinex_hack"},{"date":"2017","event":"Lichtenstein and Morgan move a large portion of the stolen funds through the darknet market AlphaBay, using it as a bitcoin mixer.","source":"Bitfinex Hack Money Launderers Plead Guilty - Chainalysis","source_url":"https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/bitfinex-hack-plea-july-2023/"},{"date":"2017-04","event":"Bitfinex announces (April 3) that all outstanding BFX tokens have been redeemed at $1.00 or converted to iFinex equity.","source":"100% Redemption of Outstanding BFX Tokens — Bitfinex Blog","source_url":"https://blog.bitfinex.com/announcements/100-redemption-outstanding-bfx-tokens/"},{"date":"2022-02","event":"The DOJ arrests Lichtenstein and Morgan in New York City (February 8) and seizes about 94,000 BTC worth roughly $3.6 billion, then the largest financial seizure in DOJ history.","source":"Two Arrested for Alleged Conspiracy to Launder $4.5 Billion in Stolen Cryptocurrency — DOJ","source_url":"https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/two-arrested-alleged-conspiracy-launder-45-billion-stolen-cryptocurrency"},{"date":"2023-05","event":"OCCRP reports that Bitfinex commissioned and withheld a confidential Ledger Labs report identifying security failures that enabled the 2016 hack.","source":"Confidential Report Flags Bitfinex Security Lapses in Huge 2016 Hack — OCCRP","source_url":"https://www.occrp.org/en/feature/confidential-report-flags-bitfinex-security-lapses-in-huge-2016-hack"},{"date":"2023-08","event":"Lichtenstein and Morgan plead guilty in Washington, D.C. federal court (August 3); Lichtenstein admits for the first time to carrying out the 2016 hack.","source":"Husband and Wife Plead Guilty to Money Laundering Conspiracy - DOJ","source_url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/husband-and-wife-plead-guilty-money-laundering-conspiracy-involving-hack-and-theft"},{"date":"2024-11","event":"Lichtenstein is sentenced (November 14) to 60 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release.","source":"Bitfinex Hacker Sentenced in Money Laundering Conspiracy - DOJ","source_url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/bitfinex-hacker-sentenced-money-laundering-conspiracy-involving-billions-stolen"},{"date":"2024-11","event":"Heather Morgan is sentenced to 18 months in federal prison (November 18 per CoinDesk; November 14 per the bitfinex-hack-2016 page).","source":"Bitfinex Hack Launderer Heather 'Razzlekhan' Morgan Sentenced - CoinDesk","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/11/18/bitfinex-hack-launderer-heather-razzlekhan-morgan-sentenced-to-18-months-in-prison"},{"date":"2025","event":"A U.S. federal court orders in-kind restitution of about 94,000 BTC to Bitfinex through plea-agreement provisions after ruling Bitfinex does not qualify as a 'victim' under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act.","source":"Bitfinex Hack Update 2025: $9 Billion in Bitcoin to be Returned — BeInCrypto","source_url":"https://beincrypto.com/bitfinex-hack-9-billion-bitcoin-recovery/"},{"date":"2026-01","event":"Lichtenstein is released from federal prison to home confinement (January 2) after about 14 months, crediting the First Step Act.","source":"Bitcoin Hacker Ilya Lichtenstein Thanks Trump for Early Prison Release - CNBC","source_url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/02/bitcoin-hacker-ilya-lichtenstein-bitfinex-razzlekhan.html"}],"sources_used":[{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Bitfinex_hack","name":"2016 Bitfinex Hack - Wikipedia","type":"other","archive_url":"http://web.archive.org/web/20260716173538/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Bitfinex_hack","credibility":2,"archive_timestamp":"2026-07-16T17:35:38+00:00"},{"url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2016/08/03/the-bitfinex-bitcoin-hack-what-we-know-and-dont-know","name":"The Bitfinex Bitcoin Hack: What We Know (And Don't Know) - CoinDesk","type":"news_article","archive_url":"http://web.archive.org/web/20260102220128/https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2016/08/03/the-bitfinex-bitcoin-hack-what-we-know-and-dont-know","credibility":2,"archive_timestamp":"2026-01-02T22:01:28+00:00"},{"url":"https://fortune.com/2016/08/03/bitcoin-stolen-bitfinex-hack-hong-kong/","name":"Bitcoin Worth $72M Was Stolen in Bitfinex Exchange Hack - Fortune","type":"news_article","archive_url":"http://web.archive.org/web/20260702054327/https://fortune.com/2016/08/03/bitcoin-stolen-bitfinex-hack-hong-kong/","credibility":1,"archive_timestamp":"2026-07-02T05:43:27+00:00"},{"url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2016/08/05/what-the-bitfinex-hack-means-for-bitcoin-multi-sig-security","name":"What the Bitfinex Hack Means for Bitcoin Multi-Sig Security - 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