Hackers who confiscated the largest cryptocurrency wallet in history will be sentenced in the US

A pair of hackers who became «famous» for laundering money stolen from the hack of the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange are trying to avoid trial. The pair is considering a plea deal with the investigation after years of soliciting other hackers to launder the money stolen in 2016.

ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and his 31-year-old wife Heather Morgan were accused of attempting to launder the funds obtained in a large-scale hack of the crypto platform. However, they were not charged with the hack itself.

Lichtenstein and Morgan were scheduled to appear before a federal court in Washington on June 3. However, federal prosecutors asked the court to postpone the hearing until August 2. As explained by prosecutors, they need more time to deal with the «voluminous financial statements» and to conclude a plea agreement with the fraudsters.

Interestingly, the stolen cryptocurrency was worth only $ 72 million in 2016, but at the time of the arrest, its value had risen to $ 4.5 billion. Law enforcement officers managed to recover 119,754 BTC stolen by hackers, which is equivalent to $ 3.6 billion. The US Deputy Attorney General called this cryptocurrency seizure «the largest confiscation in history.»