Bitcoin thief sentenced to 5 years in prison for stealing $1 billion in crypto
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 on Thursday to five years in prison.
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.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly told Lichtenstein that his theft was “meticulously planned” and not an impulsive act.
“It’s important to send a message that you can’t commit these crimes with impunity, that there are consequences to them,”…
