Bitfinex hacker testifies in Bitcoin Fog trial as government witness

Convicted Bitfinex hacker Ilya Lichtenstein has changed into a key executive look in a jury trial fascinating the alleged operator of crypto mixer Bitcoin Fog Roman Sterlingov, Bloomberg News reported on Feb. 27.

US prosecutors arrested and charged Sterlingov in April 2021 over allegations that the mixer helped launder 1.2 million BTC — worth $335 million on the time — linked to illicit actions on the shaded web.

He’s currently going thru a jury trial over prison charges.

Prosecutors arrested Lichtenstein and his wife, Heather Morgan, in February 2022. He became convicted of the theft after getting into a responsible plea in August 2023. The couple conspired to launder $4.5 billion in Bitcoin that they had stolen from the crypto change Bitfinex initiating in 2016.

Prison grew to changed into look

Primarily based fully on the portray, Lichtenstein testified that he had former Bitcoin Fog roughly ten instances to launder a couple of of the stolen funds. Nonetheless, he eventually stopped utilizing it in favor of a more preferable mixer known as Helix.

Authorities shut down both mixers in 2021; Helix’s creator also pleaded responsible that 300 and sixty five days.

Lichtenstein moreover testified that he didn’t employ Bitcoin Fog and other coin mixers for most of his laundering actions. As but any other, he generally deposited money to crypto change accounts registered to identities he had bought on the shaded web.

The Bitfinex hacker told the jury that he had never communicated with Sterlingov immediately and didn’t know him. His testimony also revealed the causes in the help of his decision to hack Bitfinex. Lichtenstein mentioned:

“At the time, my enterprise became struggling, and I became feeling very burnt out from it.”

Sterlingov faces a couple of charges

A DOJ commentary signifies that Sterlingov faces several charges, at the side of money laundering, working an unlicensed money-transmitting enterprise, and money transmission with out a license in the District of Columbia.

Sterlingov has vehemently denied these charges and claims innocence. His lawyers bear argued that no exhausting proof — much like 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 snort a verdict.