WASHINGTON, Could 31 (Reuters) – A New York couple accused of laundering $4.5 billion in cryptocurrency tied to the 2016 hack of digital foreign money trade Bitfinex are nonetheless negotiating a potential plea deal whereas reviewing greater than 1.1 gigabytes of proof within the case, prosecutors mentioned.
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 courtroom in Washington this coming Friday.
However in a courtroom submitting on Monday, U.S. Memorial Day, federal prosecutors requested to postpone the listening to till Aug. 2, citing “discussions relating to potential resolutions of the case in need of trial” and the necessity for the defendants to assessment “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 criticism 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 mentioned the transactions on the time have been valued at $71 million in bitcoin, however with the rise within the foreign money’s worth, the worth reached $4.5 billion on the time of their arrest.
The couple had lively public profiles, with Morgan often called rap singer “Razzlekhan,” a pseudonym that she mentioned on her web site referred to Genghis Khan “however with extra pizzazz.”
A grand jury has but to return an indictment towards the pair, after prosecutors first signaled in March they’d agreed to pause the Speedy Trial Act in an effort 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; Enhancing by Howard Goller
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