> Officials said Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and his wife, Heather Morgan, 31, were arrested on charges of conspiring to launder money. They are accused of trying to launder 119,754 bitcoin that were stolen after a hacker breached Bitfinex, a cryptocurrency exchange, and initiated more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions. Prosecutors said the bitcoin was sent to a digital wallet controlled by Lichtenstein.
From the actual charging statement (https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1470186/downl...), the Feds have more details and fascinating traces through the various methods which the accused laundered the funds. Raises the question of whether they would've attracted so much attention if it were "only" a $70M hack instead of the multibillion dollar one due to BTC appreciation.
> In or around August 2016, a hacker breached Victim VCE’s security systems and infiltrated its infrastructure. While inside Victim VCE’s network, the hacker was able to initiate over 2,000 unauthorized BTC transactions, in which approximately 119,754 BTC was transferred from Victim VCE’s wallets to an outside wallet. At the time of the breach, 119,754 BTC was valued at approximately $71 million. Due to the increase in the value6 of BTC since the breach, the stolen funds are valued at over $4.5 billion as of February 2022.