Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan have managed to negotiate a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. They are accused of laundering billions of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin that was taken from the Bitfinex exchange in 2016.
The pair, who were first accused at the beginning of 2022, is scheduled to show up for a plea hearing and arraignment on August 3.
By no later than July 27, the parties must submit plea documentation outlining various parts of their charges and potential punishments.
The contentious couple was accused of laundering 119,754 Bitcoin, which are now worth over $4.5 billion and were taken during the 2016 Bitfinex hack and had a huge influence on the price of Bitcoin.
Morgan and Lichtenstein are accused of transferring the money through a darknet exchange linked to different crimes. Morgan is a multi-talented person who self-identifies as a rapper, economist, and CEO among other things.
In an effort to avoid anti-money laundering and know-your-customer regulations and avoid the filing of suspicious activity reports, they are also accused of giving false information to virtual currency exchanges and other financial institutions about the origin of their funds and the nature of their transactions.
While under house arrest earlier this year, Morgan obtained a position as a growth marketing and business development expert with a private software company. A federal court approved her request to work three days a week at the company’s New York City office despite being accused of conspiring to commit money laundering and defraud the United States; federal prosecutors did not object to the decision.
