Book photos of Heather Morgan and Ilya Liechtenstein.
Courtesy: Alexandria Adult Detention Center.
A federal prosecutor on Monday said he was in a plea bargain with a couple in New York who were recently arrested on suspicion of trying to launder a stolen Bitcoin cryptocurrency worth $ 4.5 billion.
The meeting was quoted at the prosecutor’s request to postpone the scheduled Friday status hearings of the couple Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein and Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan in the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC for 40 days. ..
The prosecutor said in a court filing that the postponement would not only “promote plea discussions between the parties,” but would also give the couple time to collect and share usable evidence with their lawyers.
31-year-old Morgan was arrested by 34-year-old Liechtenstein on February 8 in a Manhattan apartment. The arrest took place on the same day that the Justice Department announced that it had seized more than $ 3.6 billion of Bitcoin as part of its money laundering program.
CNBC politics
Read more about CNBC’s political coverage:
Prosecutors allege that they tried to illegally hide the source of about 120,000 Bitcoins stolen during the 2016 Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange hack through a complex series of transactions. Neither defendant has been charged with the hack itself.
At the time of the hack, the stolen Bitcoin was worth $ 70 million. But since then, the value of Bitcoin has skyrocketed.
The couple’s lawyers will not object to the postponement of the hearing until May 4, according to a Monday submission by the US Attorney Office in the District of Columbia.
Prosecutors said in court on February 28 that they were discussing the possibility of “solving” Morgan’s criminal case to avoid the trial.
But until Monday, they did not publicly use the term “plea” to explain their discussions with her lawyers and lawyers for her husband.
The couple’s lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the submission.
Prosecutors and lawyers often discuss possible judicial transactions in criminal cases, and those discussions often lead to postponement of court hearings.
However, the couple’s case is rare in the relatively short period from arrest to disclosure of plea.
Rapper and entrepreneur Morgan is free with a $ 3 million deposit.
Liechtenstein has been in jail since he was arrested and has been denied bail.
Netflix announced last month that the couple’s series will be directed by Chris Smith, executive producer of the company’s Covid pandemic smash hit “Tiger King.”