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- A $500 Walmart reward card led investigators to the two Bitfinex launderers
- Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan had been undone by a single seize despatched to one amongst their electronic mail addresses
- The pair are accused of laundering $3.6 billion from the 2016 Bitfinex hack
The two alleged recipients of the 2016 Bitfinex hack proceeds had been undone by a $500 Walmart reward card, federal investigators maintain mentioned. Ilya ‘Dutch’ Lichtenstein, 34, and Heather R. Morgan, 31, had been arrested remaining week on suspicion of receiving and desiring to launder the extensive majority of the $4.5 haul, though the costs didn’t delay to the hack itself. Investigators had been in a region to pinpoint them after the reward card seize confirmed an electronic mail address that belonged to the pair, which resulted in their info changing into known.
Russian Email Address Outdated to Receive Gift Card
Federal investigators had been in a region to crack the six-365 days-frequent case and hyperlink the couple to the theft by tracking a single $500 reward card after it became despatched to a Russian-registered electronic mail address. The transaction became performed thru an IP address linked to a cloud carrier provider in New York that investigators had been in a region to tie to Lichtenstein, officers mentioned just now not too long ago.
Court docket paperwork extra showed that portions of the reward card had been redeemed thru the Walmart phone app and three purchases had been performed on-line the utilization of Morgan’s title and one amongst her emails, whereas the couple’s Wall Avenue rental address became historic for delivery.
Bitfinex Launderers Have Made Headlines
The reward card in depend on became one amongst extra than a dozen different reward cards, including for Uber, Motels.com and PlayStation, that investigators had been in a region to worth again to emails and cloud carrier companies belonging to the pair. This means they had been the utilization of a crypto reward card carrier similar to Bitrefill, which gives rapid purchases of reward cards with cryptocurrency.
The case had made headlines valid thru the arena, now not factual as a result of the amount nevertheless as a result of the personalities of those involved, in enlighten Morgan who had a rapper persona and called herself the Crocodile of Wall Avenue.
