The crypto world is buzzing over the news that the Justice Department has seized billions of dollars worth of BitcoinBitcoin stolen in the 2016 Bitfinex hack—and about the 31-year-old New York woman arrested in the case.
According to the FBI, Heather Morgan and her husband Ilya Lichtenstein conspired to launder funds from the hack, and spent the proceeds on gold, NFTs, and other items.
While you'd expect crypto criminals to keep a low profile, especially those who made off with billions in Bitcoin, that isn't the case with this alleged culprit. Morgan's aspirations to be a rapper, writer, and influencer has left a lengthy trail of pictures and videos on social media, including these from TikTok:
Morgan, whose lyrics in the video above include "yes that was cheesy/at least I'm not sleazy," also has a website dedicated to her rapper alter-ego named "Razzlekhan." Her website explains that "Just like her fearless entrepreneurial spirit and hacker mindset, Razz shamelessly explores new frontiers of art."
Screenshot of Razz's website.
Morgan's LinkedIn profile, meanwhile, describes her as a "Serial Entrepreneur, SaaS Investors and Surrealist." It notes she obtained a BA in Economics from UC Davis, and lists her skills as "Inside Sales" and "Email Marketing."
Heather Morgan's LinkedIn profile.
Morgan has also tried her hand as a journalist, publishing articles for Inc and as a contributor at Forbes where she has written about everything from soul food to influencer strategies to—ironically—how to "Protect Your Business from Cybercriminals."
Her Instagram account, meanwhile, is a lively collection of photos showing off her life in New York City, including one with her alleged partner-in-crime, Lichtenstein.
Images from Heather Morgan's Instagram account.
Morgan's lively social life also included giving talks at New York City salon nights, including one titled "How to Social Engineer Your Way Into Anything" (including, perhaps, the cryptocurrency world).
Amazingly, Heather Morgan gave a talk at NYC Salon (an event I used to run with @ruthienachmany) in 2019
The Justice Department must, of course, still prove its allegations in court that Morgan laundered the $4.5 billion in Bitcoin stolen from Bitfinex in 2016.
If Morgan is indeed guilty as charged, her lifestyle is in for an abrupt change. According to the Justice Department, she and Lichtenstein face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for the money laundering charge, plus five more for conspiring to defraud the U.S. government.
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
Coinbase disclosed that 69,461 of the crypto exchange’s users were affected by a recently unveiled data breach, which took place last year, according to a notice filed with the Maine Attorney General’s Office.
Among residents of the Pine Tree State, the San Francisco-based exchange warned that around 217 natives were impacted by the incident. The company said the exploit involved cyber criminals bribing overseas customer support agents to access names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, and gover...
A crypto founder was abducted in Uganda, held at gunpoint, and forced to send crypto worth $500,000 to his attackers, in the latest of a spate of crypto kidnap attempts.
Festo Ivaibi, founder of crypto education hub Mitroplus Labs, was abducted on May 17 near his residence on Bunamwaya Road in Kampala, Uganda.
The attackers were reportedly armed, dressed in military uniforms, and claimed to be "security operatives" of the Uganda People's Defence Forces, or UPDF, according to a formal statement f...
Energy storage company KULR Technology Group has bought an additional $9 million Bitcoin for its corporate treasury, the company announced Tuesday, part of a recent surge of companies that have been building treasuries of the digital asset.
Publicly traded KULR, which has headquarters in Houston, now holds 800.3 tokens worth about $85 million, based on current pricing.
The company bought its latest Bitcoin at an average price of $103,234 per token. Bitcoin was recently trading at roughly $106...