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Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

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Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#511

Post by jacquesm »

cobookman wrote: post #318
tyrfing wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they found a file listing private keys, after gaining access to the suspect's cloud storage That's backwards. It's how they wrapped it all up. The real trail is pretty clearly AlphaBay 2016/2017 transactions (under gov control around that timeframe), to KYC-flagged accounts at an exchange, with a web of accounts with real info linked together past there.

If he instead started to draw NFTs, and sell it from his KYC account to his dirty wallet, could he still be convicted? What if only one out of every 100 NFTs his dirty wallet purchased was from his KYC account? Or what if he decided to create his own crypto-currency and it just so happened that his dirty wallet was an early investor of ETH to his fund. Seems like he could have done more to distance himself.

That will only add a charge of 'money laundering' to the list.

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#513

Post by jacquesm »

paulpauper wrote: post #178
albroland wrote: post #6

fwiw, it appears one of the named here is a YC Alum: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=il https://www.linkedin.com/in/unrealdutch/

This is just unreal. this guy was living a double life of being the greatest criminal ever. So among our community was a $4 billion hacker, just nonchalantly posting. I don't think he will be commenting anytime soon again if this really is him https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=il like your neighbor being a serial killer or something

That last comment is pretty prophetic:

"Like it or hate it, there is a sea change happening in how governments treat cryptocurrency. "

Wonder how he feels about that sea change now.

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#514

Post by phs318u »

champagnois wrote: post #470
albroland wrote: post #6

fwiw, it appears one of the named here is a YC Alum: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=il https://www.linkedin.com/in/unrealdutch/

If Reddit.com/r/worldnews can have Ghislaine Maxwell (of the epstein case) as a moderator (u/maxwellhill) -- then Ycombinator gets its own billionaire criminal.

Did you mean to say Ghislaine?

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#515

Post by squarefoot »

Gasp0de wrote: post #184
14 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Random example but my passwords look something like chOf$Tyl83fhn@54R. I keep them written down because they are hard to remember. My threat model is no one. Seems so amateur to use a simple password that could be brute forced. Especially with so much on the line.

https://www.useapassphrase.com/

"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet"

"Approximate Crack Time: 61,103,576,810,655,170 centuries"

Yeah, sure:)

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#516

Post by axiosgunnar »

paulpauper wrote: post #155
not2b wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The (alleged) criminal only has to make one mistake to get caught, if the pursuers are good. Steal enough money and the best pursuers will be assigned to catch the perp.

John Ruffo who stole $300 million still at large after 20 years

might be dead by now?

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#518

Post by sharkweek »

binarynate wrote: post #509

"I deeply, deeply regret to inform you that this is the rap video of the woman who was just arrested as part of an alleged husband-wife scheme that laundered some $3.6 billion in crypto." https://twitter.com/kevincollier/status/1491107221857796097

I have been writing an imaginary Coen brothers in my head over the last couple of years based on absurd current events. This is definitely being added.

I'm thinking of tying them both in as friends of Lady Gaga, tasked with trying to pay the ransom to the people who kidnapped her dog in crypto. In the process, they accidentally stole too much.

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#519

Post by dom96 »

localhost wrote: post #299
pdog wrote: post #215

Ilya Lichtenstein (YC S11) is the co-founder of YC-backed MixRank. Heather Morgan, his wife, is apparently a serial entrepreneur, investor, and "contributor" to Forbes.

She's also a rapper, and not a very good one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DIuPPmY9mw

Better than most to be honest

Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds

#520

Post by notch656a »

robbedpeter wrote: post #424
PKop wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But in this case, accessing the billions in BTC was impossible too, so for all intents and purposes, that number wasn't real, since it wasn't usable. The question is perhaps what is the most one can use and how to do it. Privacy coins probably play a part in this equation. You maybe could slowly, and methodically convert it out of the privacy coin into a spendable form when needed.

Laundering within the constraints of a public ledger isn't feasible for long periods of time or large amounts of money - the only way to win that game is to be so small nobody cares. They could have possibly gotten cash from cartels at a steep discount, but that story would probably have ended with a richer cartel and two dead nerds.

I always wonder how many people won this long con by being so small nobody cares. The DoJ document states they already succeeded in taking the funds cross chain and through some privacy enhancing alternative assets. For every idiot dumping millions in a bank account there's got to be someone else living a "modest" but luxurious life looking like a small guy nobody cares about, cashing out a few hundred to a thousand at a time somewhere where that kind of money is big enough to get a nice day to day living but small enough to not be worth organized crime taking much notice.
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