Convicted Bitfinex hacker Ilya Lichtenstein has develop into a key authorities witness in a jury trial involving the alleged operator of crypto mixer Bitcoin Fog Roman Sterlingov, Bloomberg Information reported on Feb. 27.
US prosecutors arrested and charged Sterlingov in April 2021 over allegations that the mixer helped launder 1.2 million BTC — price $335 million on the time — linked to illicit actions on the darkish internet.
He’s presently going through a jury trial over prison prices.
Prosecutors arrested Lichtenstein and his spouse, Heather Morgan, in February 2022. He was convicted of the theft after coming into a responsible plea in August 2023. The couple conspired to launder $4.5 billion in Bitcoin they’d stolen from the crypto alternate Bitfinex beginning in 2016.
Felony turned witness
In line with the report, Lichtenstein testified that he had used Bitcoin Fog roughly ten instances to launder a few of the stolen funds. Nonetheless, he finally stopped utilizing it in favor of a extra preferable mixer known as Helix.
Authorities shut down each mixers in 2021; Helix’s creator additionally pleaded responsible that 12 months.
Lichtenstein moreover testified that he didn’t use Bitcoin Fog and different coin mixers for many of his laundering actions. As a substitute, he usually deposited cash to crypto alternate accounts registered to identities he had bought on the darkish internet.
The Bitfinex hacker instructed the jury that he had by no means communicated with Sterlingov instantly and didn’t know him. His testimony additionally revealed the explanations behind his resolution to hack Bitfinex. Lichtenstein mentioned:
“On the time, my enterprise was struggling, and I used to be feeling very burnt out from it.”
Sterlingov faces a number of prices
A DOJ assertion signifies that Sterlingov faces a number of prices, together with cash laundering, working an unlicensed money-transmitting enterprise, and cash transmission with no license within the District of Columbia.
Sterlingov has vehemently denied these prices and claims innocence. His legal professionals have argued that no exhausting proof — corresponding to eyewitness testimony or server logs — hyperlinks him to the crypto mixer.
As of Feb. 27, the trial is ongoing, and the jury has but to problem a verdict.
