On Monday, a decide ruled that Heather Morgan, aka Razzlekhan, really should be produced on bail immediately after she and her partner ended up arrested for allegedly supporting to launder billions of bucks truly worth of stolen Bitcoin. Morgan and her spouse Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein have been by now granted bail very last week by a different choose, but the government acquired an emergency continue to be on the prior purchase, indicating that the couple could possibly use tens of millions of bucks worth of un-seized Bitcoin to flee the region.
Monday’s listening to took area to evaluation the release buy and think about even further prosecution and protection evidence. You can read the two of the composed arguments under, which mostly reflect what the events argued in courtroom. The presiding decide resolved that Morgan could await her demo at home if she built bail, but she did not overturn the continue to be for Lichtenstein, meaning that he would continue to be in custody.
The few was arrested on allegations that they tried to launder some of the 119,754 Bitcoin stolen in the 2016 Bitfinex hack. While the govt seized most of that crypto (value about $3.6 billion previous 7 days), it claims in court docket paperwork that there are continue to millions of bucks really worth that it has not been able to get its palms on nonetheless. It also states that the pair obtained 70 gold cash with money linked to the assault, which it did not come across although seeking the couple’s condominium (it did uncover empty hollowed-out guides, a bag of burner phones, and a number of components cryptocurrency wallets).
Next her arrest, Morgan received a whole lot of focus on social media just after it was found that she’d been submitting rap tunes, films, and manner content beneath the title Razzlekhan. Clips of particularly cringe-deserving times from her new music movies have been shared on the internet considering the fact that the information of her arrest, alongside incredulous reviews that the particular person rapping about remaining the “Crocodile of Wall Street” was associated with the Bitfinex hack.
Throughout Monday’s hearing, the authorities argued that Morgan and Lichtenstein could use the un-seized resources or gold to escape to a place that wouldn’t be significantly inclined to extradite them, these kinds of as Russia or Ukraine (Lichtenstein was born in Russia and renewed his passport in 2019, according to the government). It also argued that they’d be enthusiastic to do so, provided that they could deal with significant financial penalties and 25 several years in jail if convicted of fraud and funds laundering.
The couple’s law firm argued that they have been not likely to flee for several reasons — Morgan is at the moment recovering from surgery, and each her and Lichtenstein’s mom and dad had posted their houses as collateral for their bail. He also argued that if they experienced wanted to flee, they would’ve performed so in the 7 days or two top up to the arrest, asserting they would’ve realized the govt was on to them right after getting see of a subpoena from an ISP, and observing the cash seized. The prosecution responded by stating that it was really not likely the pair understood how a great deal proof the federal government had right until they had been arrested, provided that a great deal of it was received by cracking encrypted information Lichtenstein experienced stored on a cloud company.
The choose claimed that Lichtenstein would not be granted bail simply because the government’s proof alleges he was mostly in control of the cash — Morgan, she reasoned, was a lot less likely to have obtain to cash that would enable her escape. She stated that Morgan would have to stick to the conditions outlined in the primary launch get, which include dwelling arrest, an ankle bracelet for area monitoring, restrictions on laptop use, and a ban on carrying out cryptocurrency transactions.
The argument for why Lichtenstein and Morgan need to be allowed bail, geared up by their legal professionals
The government’s argument why Lichtenstein and Morgan should not be authorized bail
