WASHINGTON, Could 31 (Reuters) – A New York couple accused of laundering $4.5 billion in cryptocurrency tied to the 2016 hack of digital forex trade Bitfinex are nonetheless negotiating a potential plea deal whereas reviewing greater than 1.1 gigabytes of proof within the case, prosecutors stated.
Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein, 34, and his spouse, Heather Morgan, 32, the self-proclaimed “Crocodile of Wall Road,” have been resulting from seem in a federal court docket in Washington this coming Friday.
However in a court docket submitting on Monday, U.S. Memorial Day, federal prosecutors requested to postpone the listening to till Aug. 2, citing “discussions concerning potential resolutions of the case in need of trial” and the necessity for the defendants to evaluation “voluminous monetary information” turned over by the federal government.
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Lichtenstein and Morgan have been arrested in February and accused in a legal grievance of conspiring to launder 119,754 bitcoin stolen after a hacker in 2016 broke into Bitfinex and initiated greater than 2,000 unauthorized transactions.
U.S. Justice Division officers stated the transactions on the time have been valued at $71 million in bitcoin, however with the rise within the forex’s worth, the worth reached $4.5 billion on the time of their arrest.
The couple had energetic public profiles, with Morgan often known as rap singer “Razzlekhan,” a pseudonym that she stated on her web site referred to Genghis Khan “however with extra pizzazz.”
A grand jury has but to return an indictment in opposition to the pair, after prosecutors first signaled in March they’d agreed to pause the Speedy Trial Act as a way to focus on a potential plea deal.
Lichtenstein is being held in jail with out bond, whereas Morgan was launched to accommodate arrest.
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Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Modifying by Howard Goller
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