In a plea listening to on Thursday in Washington, D.C., Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein, the husband of social media rapper Heather Morgan, aka Razzlekhan, pleaded guilty to hacking nearly 119,754 bitcoins from Bitfinex, the crypto alternate from which the cash was once stolen in August 2016.

The couple had been arrested by the U.S. executive in February 2022 for laundering what was once then $4.5 billion in the stolen bitcoin from the hack — $3.6 billion of which was once seized to model the executive’s ideal haul ever (right this moment time rate $2.7 billion).

On the opposite hand, the save a question to of who in actuality stole the cash had regularly remained.

The couple’s wild social media presence had precipitated a rare alternative of commentators to imagine that they weren’t doable of in actuality stealing the cash, that perhaps they’d bought it at buy from the actual thief.

On the opposite hand, the blockchain showed the cash had moved straight from Bitfinex to the wallet whose deepest keys the executive later found in Lichtenstein’s possession, lending credence to the notion that he or the couple together had hacked the alternate.

Thursday’s hearings approach after 18 months of negotiating, with a offer beforehand telling Unchained, that every Lichtenstein and Morgan cooperated with authorities, giving the executive further wallet addresses holding extra stolen funds and varied data that has increased the executive’s restoration.

At their sentencing, anticipated to be in 60 to 90 days, their appropriate behavior might perhaps per chance serve them, though federal sentencing pointers build clutch into consideration the quantity of money alive to, which is tall in this case.

Morgan’s plea listening to is determined for later Thursday.