According to a report by The Washington Post, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) confiscated $3.6 billion worth of cryptocurrencies linked to the Bitfinex crypto exchange hack in 2016.
Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, was arrested by the authorities after he and his wife, 31-year-old, Heather Morgan, tried to launder 119,754 coins stolen from the popular crypto trading platform. The couple is scheduled to appear in federal court later in the day.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco stressed that criminals cannot hide their earnings with cryptocurrencies:
“Cryptocurrency is not a safe haven for criminals.”
Lisa Monaco also said that this marks the institution’s largest financial takeover ever.
Federal authorities managed to seize 94,000 tokens linked to the hack. another one “Today, federal law enforcement is showing once again that we can track money through blockchain and not allow cryptocurrency to become a safe haven for money laundering or a zone of lawlessness in our financial system,” said Deputy Attorney General Kenneth Polite Jr. made the statement.