The individual responsible for the audacious Bitfinex hack, which saw the theft of nearly 120,000 bitcoins, has been released from federal prison early. Ilya Lichtenstein, a Russian-U.S. national, cited President Trump’s First Step Act as the catalyst for his early release, according to a statement posted on his official X account. The cryptocurrency, at its peak valuation, represented billions of dollars.
Lichtenstein, 38, had previously pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge related to money laundering and was sentenced to five years in prison in November 2024. His early departure from confinement comes as a surprise, particularly given the scale of the 2016 Bitfinex breach.
“Thanks to President Trump’s First Step Act, I have been released from prison early,” Lichtenstein’s post declared, signaling a significant shift in his legal standing. He further stated, “I remain committed to making a positive impact in cybersecurity as soon as I can.” The message concluded with a note of gratitude to supporters and a challenge to detractors, “To the haters, I look forward to proving you wrong.”
A Trump administration official confirmed to CNBC that Lichtenstein “has served significant time on his sentence and is currently on home confinement consistent with statute and Bureau of Prisons policies.” The attorneys for Lichtenstein were not immediately available for comment.
Lichtenstein’s wife, Heather Morgan, who also admitted to her role in laundering the stolen funds, echoed his sentiment on her own X account. “The best New Years present I could get was finally having my husband home after 4 years of being apart,” she posted, sharing a selfie of the couple. Morgan, who gained notoriety as a rapper and influencer under the moniker “Razzlekhan” and “The Crocodile of Wall Street,” received an 18-month sentence. She too announced her early release in late October, publicly thanking President Trump for shortening her sentence.
Lichtenstein’s sentence included credit for time served since his arrest in 2022, over five years after the Bitfinex exchange was compromised. Official records indicated his scheduled release date was February 9th.
The First Step Act, signed into law by President Trump in December 2018, is a bipartisan piece of legislation designed to reform the federal prison system. It introduced measures aimed at reducing recidivism and allowing for early release for eligible inmates based on a “risk and needs assessment system.”
While the specific involvement of President Trump or his administration in Lichtenstein’s or Morgan’s early release remains unclear, these developments follow a pattern of pardons and commutations granted by the president to individuals connected to the cryptocurrency space. Notably, shortly after his inauguration, Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the dark web marketplace Silk Road. More recently, in October, Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, who pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering, received a presidential pardon. These actions have underscored a complex relationship between the current administration and the burgeoning digital asset industry.
The Bitfinex hack remains one of the most significant security breaches in the history of cryptocurrency exchanges. The recovery and subsequent laundering of the stolen bitcoin presented a complex legal and technical challenge, ultimately leading to the convictions of Lichtenstein and Morgan. Their early release, facilitated by the First Step Act, raises further questions about the evolving landscape of criminal justice reform and its intersection with high-profile digital asset crimes.
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