Bitfinex Hackers Release Public Statement, Reiterating Sole Responsibility for 120,000 Stolen Bitcoins

BlockBeats News, December 19, the Bitfinex hack hacker, after being arrested, made his first public statement, reiterating that Ilya Lichtenstein individually stole 120,000 bitcoins, denying the speculation in the Netflix documentary that "his father was involved in the conspiracy and may belong to a Russian spy agency." This is his first public statement since his arrest in 2022.

In a video statement, Lichtenstein said, "My father is not a hacker, he doesn't even know how to use Instagram. I offer my sincerest apologies to Bitfinex for all the pressure I brought upon them. I know what I did was wrong, but I did it anyway. I look back at myself at the time, and I hate myself. I hate myself. Over the past three years, I have been diligently following the requirements of the plea agreement, trying to trace all assets and return them down to the last satoshi, and I will continue to do so."

BlockBeats previously reported that on August 4, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Public Affairs announced that New York married couple Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan admitted to conspiring to commit money laundering, a case involving around 120,000 BTC stolen from Bitfinex. The two were arrested in February 2022, and the government previously seized about 95,000 stolen bitcoins from a cryptocurrency wallet controlled by the defendants. At the time of the seizure, the recovered funds were valued at around $3.6 billion. Since their arrest, the government has additionally seized approximately $475 million related to this hack. Lichtenstein used various advanced hacker tools and techniques to access Bitfinex's network. Once inside their system, Lichtenstein fraudulently authorized over 2,000 transactions, transferring 119,754 BTC from Bitfinex to a cryptocurrency wallet controlled by Lichtenstein. Subsequently, Lichtenstein took steps to cover his tracks, re-entered Bitfinex's network, and deleted access credentials and other log files that could expose him to law enforcement.