They could not prove that they are the ones who did the hack, only laundered the money.
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
#732The statement of facts is linked to from the press release, and describes generally how the Feds were able to trace the stolen funds (they found a file listing private keys, after gaining access to the suspect's cloud storage) https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1470186/downl... > The 2017 transfers notwithstanding, the majority of the stolen funds remained in Wallet 1CGA4s from August 2016 until January 3…
Wow. Such hacking prowess. Such bad opsec. Weird. Ps not condoning the theft but I just find it strange that people with the skills to steal this much get caught using bog standard cloud storage. You'd think they could afford something better ;) Something along the lines of "you don't take notes on a criminal f** conspiracy" :)
But the report does not state that they actually did it, only laundered it. it may have been someone else
Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds
#733Earlier quoted context omitted.
That requires that you did something that you are very sure the country you end up in won't just prosecute you for themselves. If your crime is massively embarrassing to the US govt you go to Russia, or heinous sexual assault of a 13yo, France. But I think most of the usual culprits in this case would just prosecute you.
We disagree it was heinous and believe it's prescribed, thank you. Polanski is a French citizen and will not be given to the US, but if an american is demanded, we ll give him back on the double. It s what they seem not to explain in movies: we protect our brothers in citizenship against exaggerated foreign conviction, but not foreigners.
What do you mean by "prescribed" here?
Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds
#734Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Legal enforcement legitimizes crypto as property. It expands the definition of property by institutionally conferring the status of "owned" to a functional configuration of bits distributed over thousands of computers. 9/10ths of law is property ownership. I find hilarious that anyone would want less of this concept, not more. My interpretation is that crypto enthusiasts want the "trust of the crowds" not a central…
It's simply that people who begin thought experiments with one island, two people, and three cows tend to reach absolutely unhinged conclusions about how the society should work. Not wanting to live in a world governed by those systems is why I intent to frame them as such. Before we get to the part where some responder concludes, "you should go live in the woods then", I'd rather they did. Another way of putting it…
> consequently expansions in the dominion of the state.
So your concerns are about restriction of liberties? or society moving away from small government?
Are you a supporter of cryptocurrencies?
Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds
#735Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m actually wondering if there are serious doubts here. Especially due to the weaker charges levied, and watching the cringy @realrazzlekhan tiktok page where everyone also has their doubts about these people’s competence. Darknet markets sell IDs, the DOJ also says the hackers used fake IDs to reintegrate the money. This fairly welloff couple (lives in Manhattan condo, owns bengal cat and jewelry) could easily just…
If you read the complaint it is pretty clear they were at least heavily involved. Their personal accounts and businesses were tied up into it.
I’m still reading it
They definitely had custody of the funds and felt obligated to try and launder it
It seems like the government needs to figure out if they were the only ones with custody, which is proving a negative with private keys, but the government seems to feel like it’s needs a greater proof of the actual heist of bitfinex so they can pin the rest on this couple.
Still reading though, this is just what I’ve parsed so far.
The IRS-CI agent had requested CFAA and Wire Fraud charges.
Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds
#736fwiw, 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 money was never real, they never had a chance of spending even 0.1% of it. lol does anyone really think they could have accessed and spent that much money, in any way?
Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds
#737Ilya 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
I had the tab open a few minutes ago, and mid playback it's been made private. Just caught them doing that live.
Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds
#738Earlier quoted context omitted.
no. this is quite bullish for bitcoin. they're showing that bitcoin can't be used for criminal activity, whatever the government decides that should be (usually in favor of the general public). this helps to legitimize bitcoin. Protecting consumers of bitcoin is bullish for bitcoin. helping to prevent fraud in bitcoin is also bullish for bitcoin. All these things increase confidence in bitcoin as a legitimate way of…
It sounds like all the good things for bitcoin here are coming from the power of the central authority to provide confidence, legitimacy, protection, and legal recourse. So why on earth is that a good thing for an asset which is all about the power of decentralized systems?
That feels like it's an easy answer:
Human society, for a number of years now, has been governed by central authorities that define the rules in which society has to live. Bitcoin cannot and does not take part in dictating how society is to function, Bitcoin is put forward as an alternative currency that cannot be quantitavely eased / printed and gifted to society's largest entities as reward for criminal behaviours that endangered the very society that the central authorities are meant to be acting in protection of.
Central authority is a basic requirement of society. Bitcoin is an alternative currency. Recognition by the central authority of society is a legitimisation of Bitcoin in its position as an alternative currency.
I don't (sort of I do actually) understand Bitcoin being seen as a replacement for all centralisation / government. Bitcoin has never attempted to make legislation. Currency only (and that's shrunk to 'store of value').
DAO's on the other hand... maybe.
Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds
#739Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Seems like he could have done more to distance himself. On a value system with an inherently public ledger that eventually has to hit a fiat off ramp with KYC/AML requirements? Nah. Everyone has quality opsec until they don't, and the record of your criminal activity is immutable and highly durable.
You can just sell the bitcoin for monero, then sell the monero for btc. also, as time goes on, the proportion of btc that are "dirty" approaches 1, so these chainalysis strategies become less effective, assuming you aren't stupid enough to do some criminal act then cash out at a kyc exchange the next day from the same wallet
"also, as time goes on, the proportion of btc that are "dirty" approaches 1"
I don't follow what you're saying here. Nothing stops something from being dirty multiple times, does it? So nobody might care that it could be traced back to something sketchy 5 years ago, if more immediately it's traced back to last month's crime.
Re: Feds arrest couple, seize $3.6B in hacked Bitcoin funds
#740Earlier quoted context omitted.
jeez man, not every comment has to be a profound statement. I thought it was pretty interesting.
Just curious, what did you think was pretty interesting about it? The fact that one human knew another? The fact that someone on HN knew this person? Not trying to troll, is there something here I'm missing?
lol, man, just let the guy talk. We're just here hanging out. He probably thought it was neat that he knew someone who was attached to something this crazy. This is how a lot of humans operate.
Am I talking to a bot?