窃取数十亿比特币的计算机专家被判入狱 5 年

伊利亚·利希滕斯坦 (Ilya Lichtenstein) 策划了虚拟货币交易所有史以来最大的盗窃案之一，然后他和妻子希瑟·瑞安农·摩根 (Heather Rhiannon Morgan) 实施了一项精心策划的计划来清算被盗资金。

A computer expert who stole bitcoin worth billions of dollars at current prices — and then spent years laundering some of the hacked cryptocurrency with help from his wife — was sentenced to five years in prison Monday.

一名计算机专家周一被判处五年监禁，他窃取了按当前价格计算价值数十亿美元的比特币，然后花了数年时间在妻子的帮助下洗白了一些被黑客入侵的加密货币。

Ilya Lichtenstein masterminded one of the largest-ever thefts from a virtual currency exchange before he and his wife, Heather Rhiannon Morgan, carried out an elaborate scheme to liquidate the stolen funds, according to federal prosecutors.

据联邦检察官称，伊利亚·利希滕斯坦 (Ilya Lichtenstein) 策划了虚拟货币交易所有史以来最大的盗窃案之一，然后他和妻子希瑟·瑞安农·摩根 (Heather Rhiannon Morgan) 精心策划了一项清算被盗资金的计划。

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly told Lichtenstein that his theft was “meticulously planned” and not an impulsive act.

美国地区法官科琳·科拉尔-科泰利告诉利希滕斯坦，他的盗窃行为是“精心策划的”，而不是一时冲动的行为。

“It’s important to send a message that you can’t commit these crimes with impunity, that there are consequences to them,” she said.

“重要的是要传达这样一个信息：你不能犯下这些罪行而不受惩罚，他们会承担后果，”她说。

Lichtenstein, who gets credit for the two years and nine months that he has spent in jail since his February 2022 arrest, expressed remorse for “wasting my talents on crime instead of a positive contribution to society.” He said he hopes that he can apply his expertise to fight cybercrime when he gets out of prison.

利希滕斯坦因自 2022 年 2 月被捕以来在监狱中度过了两年零九个月而受到赞扬，他对“将自己的才能浪费在犯罪上，而不是对社会做出积极贡献”表示悔恨。他表示，希望出狱后能够运用自己的专业知识打击网络犯罪。

“I want to take full responsibility for my actions and make amends any way I can,” he said.

“我想对自己的行为承担全部责任，并尽我所能做出弥补，”他说。

The judge sentenced Morgan to 18 months in prison despite pleas from Lichtenstein that he was to blame for her involvement.

尽管利希滕斯坦恳求摩根对她的参与负有责任，但法官仍判处摩根 18 个月监禁。

In August 2016, Lichtenstein hacked into a virtual currency exchange, Hong Kong-based Bitfinex, and stole approximately 120,000 in bitcoin. It was worth approximately $71 million at the time of the hack and would be valued at more than $7.6 billion at current market prices, according to prosecutors.

2016 年 8 月，利希滕斯坦入侵了一家位于香港的虚拟货币交易所 Bitfinex，窃取了大约 12 万枚比特币。据检察官称，黑客入侵时该资产的价值约为 7100 万美元，按当前市场价格计算，其价值将超过 76 亿美元。

Several months later, Lichtenstein began moving the stolen bitcoin in a string of complex transactions designed to conceal its path across a series of accounts and platforms. He enlisted his wife’s help in cleaning the stolen funds.

几个月后，利希滕斯坦开始通过一系列复杂的交易转移被盗的比特币，旨在隐藏其在一系列账户和平台上的路径。他在妻子的帮助下清理了被盗资金。

Lichtenstein, an entrepreneur and cryptocurrency investor, is a U.S. citizen born in Russia and grew up in a Chicago suburb. Morgan, a business owner and writer, adopted the alter ego “Razzlekhan” for performing rap songs and recording videos for her music.

利希滕斯坦是一位企业家和加密货币投资者，是一名美国公民，出生于俄罗斯，在芝加哥郊区长大。摩根是一位企业主和作家，她采用了另一个自我“Razzlekhan”来表演说唱歌曲并为她的音乐录制视频。

Lichtenstein and Morgan were living in New York City when they were arrested in February 2022.

利希滕斯坦和摩根于 2022 年 2 月被捕时居住在纽约市。

Prosecutors had recommended a five-year prison sentence for Lichtenstein, who pleaded guilty in August 2023 to one count of money laundering conspiracy. They also recommended an 18-month prison sentence for Morgan, who pleaded guilty to the same charge.

检察官建议判处利希滕斯坦五年监禁，他于 2023 年 8 月承认一项共谋洗钱罪名。他们还建议判处摩根 18 个月监禁，摩根承认了同样的指控。

“Neither the hack nor the laundering scheme was an impulsive decision. The defendant (Lichtenstein) spent months attempting to gain access to Bitfinex’s infrastructure and get the accesses and permissions he needed in order to orchestrate his hack,” prosecutors wrote.

“黑客攻击和洗钱计划都不是一个冲动的决定。被告（利希滕斯坦）花了几个月的时间试图访问 Bitfinex 的基础设施，并获得他所需的访问权限和权限，以便策划他的黑客攻击，”检察官写道。

Lichtenstein told his wife about the hack over three years later, but he initially solicited her help in laundering the proceeds “without explaining exactly what he was doing,” according to prosecutors.

检察官称，三年多后，利希滕斯坦向他的妻子讲述了这次黑客攻击事件，但他最初请求她帮助洗钱，“但没有确切解释他在做什么”。

Morgan “was certainly a willing participant and bears full responsibility for her actions, but she was a lower-level participant,” prosecutors wrote.

检察官写道，摩根“当然是一个自愿的参与者，并对自己的行为承担全部责任，但她是一个较低级别的参与者”。

During family trips to Kazakhstan and Ukraine, Lichtenstein met with couriers who delivered him money that he smuggled back into the U.S.

在与家人前往哈萨克斯坦和乌克兰旅行期间，利希滕斯坦遇到了快递员，他们将他偷运回美国的钱交给了他

“Over half a decade, the defendant engaged in what IRS agents described as the most complicated money laundering techniques they had seen to date,” prosecutors wrote.

检察官写道：“五年多来，被告实施了国税局特工所说的迄今为止他们所见过的最复杂的洗钱技术。”

Bitcoin is the largest and oldest cryptocurrency, which is digital money that typically isn’t backed by any government or banking institution.

比特币是最大、最古老的加密货币，它是通常不受任何政府或银行机构支持的数字货币。

The couple successfully laundered about 21% of the funds stolen from Bitfinex. The laundered money was worth at least $14 million at 2016 prices. Its value would have exceeded $1 billion at the time of their 2022 arrest.

这对夫妇成功洗掉了从 Bitfinex 盗取的约 21% 的资金。按 2016 年价格计算，洗钱价值至少为 1,​​400 万美元。到 2022 年他们被捕时，其价值将超过 10 亿美元。

“He became one of the greatest money launderers that the government has encountered in the cryptocurrency space,” prosecutors wrote.

检察官写道：“他成为政府在加密货币领域遇到的最严重的洗钱者之一。”

An attorney for Bitfinex said the hack “devastated” its finances and its reputation with its customers, with the stolen funds accounting for approximately 36% of the company’s assets at the time of theft.

Bitfinex 的一名律师表示，此次黑客攻击“摧毁”了该公司的财务状况和客户声誉，被盗资金约占该公司被盗时资产的 36%。

“Bitfinex had to take unprecedented and immediate action to ensure that any losses from the Hack would ultimately be borne by Bitfinex and its shareholders alone, not its customers,” the lawyer, Barry Berke, wrote in a letter to the judge.

“Bitfinex 必须立即采取前所未有的行动，以确保此次黑客攻击造成的任何损失最终将由 Bitfinex 及其股东承担，而不是由其客户承担，”律师巴里·伯克 (Barry Berke) 在给法官的信中写道。

A prosecutor said Lichtenstein immediately began cooperating with federal authorities after his arrest, helping them with other cybercrime investigations.

一名检察官表示，利希滕斯坦被捕后立即开始与联邦当局合作，帮助他们进行其他网络犯罪调查。

Over 96% of the stolen funds have been recovered, with help from Lichtenstein, according to defense attorney Samson Enzer. The “vast bulk” of the stolen money was never spent, the lawyer said.

辩护律师萨姆森·恩泽 (Samson Enzer) 表示，在利希滕斯坦的帮助下，超过 96% 的被盗资金已被追回。律师表示，“大部分”被盗资金从未被花掉。

“This is not an evil person,” Enzer said. “This is a good person who made some very bad mistakes.”

“这不是一个邪恶的人，”恩泽说。 “这是一个好人，但犯了一些非常严重的错误。”