Ilya Lichtenstein, the notorious hacker behind the 2016 theft of over $11 billion in Bitcoin from the Bitfinex exchange, has been released from prison years ahead of his sentence and is now under home confinement. Lichtenstein, along with his wife Heather Morgan, who was also recently released from prison, attributed their early departures to the influence of former President Donald Trump.
A Trump administration official confirmed to Decrypt that Lichtenstein is indeed out of prison, stating, “This individual has served significant time on his sentence and is currently on home confinement consistent with statute and Bureau of Prisons policies.” However, the official did not elaborate on whether the White House played a role in facilitating his early release.
Lichtenstein was sentenced in November 2024 to five years for stealing more than 119,000 BTC from Bitfinex, exploiting vulnerabilities in the exchange”s security systems. His wife was convicted for aiding in the laundering of the stolen assets. At the time of the theft, the Bitcoin was worth approximately $71 million; today, its value has soared to around $11.2 billion. The funds were ultimately recovered by the U.S. government.
Upon his release, Lichtenstein expressed gratitude, claiming that “President Trump”s First Step Act” was instrumental in his reduced sentence. “To the supporters, thank you for everything,” he remarked. “To the haters, I look forward to proving you wrong.”
The First Step Act, signed by Trump in 2018, is a bipartisan prison reform initiative that allows certain inmates to be “pre-released” into home confinement, among other provisions. While it remains unclear whether Lichtenstein qualified as elderly or terminally ill or if he had accrued sufficient good time credit for such an early release, the Bureau of Prisons has yet to comment on the specifics.
Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan, Lichtenstein”s wife, similarly thanked Trump upon her early release in October, although she refrained from referencing the First Step Act directly. “I want to give a shoutout to Papa Trump for making my 18-month sentence shorter,” she said in a video. A White House official later clarified that her release was “not due to a commutation from the president.”
This development raises questions about the intersection of cryptocurrency crime, legal repercussions, and the implications of recent legislative reforms on sentencing practices.
