February 17, 2022

Cringe Raps and $5 Billion in Stolen Bitcoin w/ Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai

45 minutes

Paris Marx is joined by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai to discuss the arrest of Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan for trying to launder the $5 billion in Bitcoin stolen in the 2016 Bitfinex hack, how they were moving the money, how the authorities found them, and what lessons the case might hold.

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai is senior staff writer at Motherboard. Follow Lorenzo on Twitter at @lorenzofb.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Lorenzo wrote about the arrest of the couple and Heather Morgan’s cringe raps as Razzlekhan. Along with Motherboard colleagues, he also dug deep into the couple’s history and online presence.

The Bitcoin they held and tried to launder came from the 2016 hack of Bitfinex.

People who knew Morgan told the New York Times her social media presence was “part of an elaborate act to confront social pressures.”

In 2014, Mt. Gox was hacked and shut down. It was an exchange handling 70% of Bitcoin transactions.

Criminals laundered $8.6 billion in cryptocurrency in 2021, up 30% from the year before.

AlphaBay was a darkweb crypto marketplace that was seized by authorities in 2017.

On Feb 14, Heather Morgan was released on bail, but Ilya Lichtenstein remained in detention.

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