Back in 2016, the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex was hacked, and 120,000 Bitcoin worth about $72 million at the time was stolen.
Recently, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the arrest of a couple living in Manhattan for conspiracy of laundering the stolen funds. The couple Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan were linked to the 2016 heist, and the price of their stolen Bitcoin increased from $72 million to nearly $5 billion over the years of the investigation. The DOJ announced that it had seized $3.6 billion of the stolen funds, with the DOJ’s Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco saying during the announcement, “Today’s arrests, and the department’s largest financial seizure ever, show that cryptocurrency is not a safe haven for criminals.“
Now, Netflix has ordered a documentary series to be created on the couple accused of laundering billions of dollars as it’s alleged that they attempted liquidating the stack of Bitcoin by creating multiple fake identities and accounts that purchased physical gold, NFTs, and more. Due to the transparent nature of the blockchain, vigilante hackers were able to track down the wallets containing the stolen Bitcoin, which resulted in publications such as Cointelegraph tracking any activity of these wallets. The latest movement out of a stolen wallet was as recent as February 1, 2022, when 10,000 Bitcoin worth $383,540,711 at the time was transferred to an unknown wallet.
“Netflix has ordered a documentary series about a married couple’s alleged scheme to launder billions of dollars worth of stolen cryptocurrency in the biggest criminal financial crime case in history,” announced Netflix.
The upcoming documentary series will be directed by Chris Smith. For more information on this story, check out this link here.