Bitfinex bitcoin thief Ilya Lichtenstein thanks Trump for early prison release
The Russian-U.S. national who hacked crypto exchange Bitfinex and stole nearly 120,000 bitcoin said he has been freed from prison early thanks to the bipartisan prison-reform law signed by President Donald Trump.
Ilya Lichtenstein, 38, had been sentenced in November 2024 to five years in prison after pleading guilty to a money laundering conspiracy charge and admitting to the hack of crypto assets now valued in the billions of dollars.
But late Thursday night, a post on Lichtenstein’s official X account declared, “Thanks to President Trump’s First Step Act, I have been released from prison early.”
Courtroom sketch of Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein while pleading guilty to laundering the stolen bitcoin in Washington, D.C., federal court.
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