Rapping Entrepreneur, Partner Accused of Laundering $4.5 Billion in Crypto

An entrepreneur who doubles as a rapper is becoming charged together with her husband for allegedly laundering billions following a cryptocurrency trade breach.

Heather Rhiannon Morgan, 31, and Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein, 34, ended up arrested in NYC on Tuesday on accusations of laundering $4.5 billion next a 2016 breach. They allegedly helped “wash” 119,754 Bitcoins prior to reportedly transferring them to Lichtenstein’s electronic wallet, in accordance to the Justice Department. They now encounter accusations of income laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the United States

“Today’s arrests, and the department’s most significant fiscal seizure ever, present that cryptocurrency is not a protected haven for criminals,” Deputy Legal professional Basic Lisa O. Monaco shared, for each the Everyday Beast. “In a futile energy to preserve digital anonymity, the defendants laundered stolen cash as a result of a labyrinth of cryptocurrency transactions. Thanks to the meticulous do the job of regulation enforcement, the department once once again confirmed how it can and will adhere to the funds, no matter what sort it can take.”

Morgan is the founder of SalesFork, which has explained alone as “the very first firm to specialize in cold e mail copywriting,” and she has inspired execs to “try rapping,” penning a 2019 Forbes piece titled “Got Burnout? This Tech CEO Thinks You Need to Try out Rapping.” In her function as Razzlekhan, revealed in the higher than online video, she’s focused her music to “all weirdos, business owners, hackers, misfits, and all the distinctive persons who pursue what they want.” Morgan and Lichtenstein encounter up to 25 yrs in jail if convicted. 

Prosecutors share that the pair—who acquired engaged back again in 2019—“employed numerous advanced laundering procedures,” these as working with pretend identities to established up accounts, as properly as computer system plans to “automate transactions,” and deposited the “stolen money into accounts at a selection of virtual currency exchanges and darknet markets”  before “withdrawing the cash, which obfuscates the trail of the transaction history by breaking up the fund movement.”

“Criminals often depart tracks, and today’s scenario is a…