Heather Morgan of New York claims that there are many things: “a series founder, a prolific writer, a disrespectful comedian-rapper, and an investor in B2B software companies with high growth potential.”
But her LinkedIn biography is silent about her alleged ability to help launder hacked cryptocurrencies.
On Tuesday morning, US FBI agents arrested Morgan (or her rapper Razzlekhan?) And her husband, Ilya Lichtenstein, accused of conspiring to launder cryptocurrencies linked to the Bitfinex hack in 2016 that resulted in the theft of 1,19,756 bitcoins (BTC) from the exchange of cryptocurrency.
The couple pleaded not guilty during a speech in a court in New York on Tuesday and were released under multi-million dollar bonds.
The value of 119,756 BTC stolen from Bitfinex was $ 72 million in August 2016, but is now worth over $ 5.1 billion. Since the hack in 2016, individuals linked to cryptography have periodically transferred small amounts of BTC in separate transactions, leaving most of the funds intact.
The U.S. Department of Justice said it tracked 25,000 bitcoins of that money, transferred to financial accounts controlled by Liechtenstein and Morgan. Private agents then gained access to and confiscated more than 94,000 bitcoins – worth $ 3.6 billion at the time – from Morgan and Liechtenstein after a search warrant allowed them to view files containing private keys to their wallets.
According to a complaint from the Department of Justice, the couple was charged with conspiracy with money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States; However, they are not tasked with implementing the hack itself. On the first charge you can get up to 20 years in prison, on the second – up to five years.
strange AF
While Lichtenstein appears to be your technical founder, Morgan is active on social media, where you can find TikTok showing synesthesia-inspired artwork and her “WEIRD AF” music video.
And you will not miss it; Includes gemstones like “I’m a Grandma Who Wants to Pop”. Morgan, in her early thirties, sings the song while sitting in a bathtub filled with glitter during her song “Versace Budo”. The question is, how do you go from rapper to hearth for FBI hacking investigation?
According to her LinkedIn, she began her career as an economist in Asia and the Middle East, including post-revolutionary Egypt after the Arab Spring.
When she returned to California and eventually moved to Silicon Valley, she “immersed herself in a world of technological startups.” In 2009, she founded SalesFolk, a sales company that specializes in cold emails.
Although she first started her rap career in 2018, it is clear that she has been training for quite some time. The motto of the company: “Be a goat, not a sheep!” She finds the right balance between absurdity and a vague philosophical reference that strangely enough did not come from one of her paths.
Related: Justice Department Seizes $ 3.6B Cryptocurrency, Arrests Two in 2016 Bitfinex Hack
In the meantime, she has also made headlines in business and technology publications, such as her December 2017 article “Should Your Company Worry About Being Blacklisted” and her June 2020 article “Experts Share Tips to Protect Your Business from Cybercriminals”. “. Both were published in Forbes magazine. She also has a long author profile for Inc Magazine.
