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

washingtonpost.com

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

#711

Post by pizzalife »

bleachedsleet wrote: post #637
pizzalife wrote: post #635

This goes to show that the only use case for NFTs is to launder money, and it's not exactly a great way of doing it. I hope they get a long prison sentence.

Read the article, then please tell me what this has to do with NFTs?

Read the affidavit from the special agent. https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1470186/downl...

"Between the 2016 hack and the present, LICHTENSTEIN and MORGAN further engaged in a diverse array of virtual currency transactions, including transacting in numerous altcoins, liquidating BTC through a BTC ATM,23 and purchasing non-fungible tokens (NFTs)."

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

#712

Post by vel0city »

ryan_lane wrote: post #698
ahallock wrote: post #563

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just proved the parent's point.

I don't see how. I've seen the evidence. Is it murder? No. Should it be manslaughter? Absolutely. Is he a piece of shit? Also, absolutely.

> the fact is that he took a gun across state lines

This is the part that was unproven and goes against sworn testimony in the court. Supposedly, the gun was stored at his friend's house in Kenosha. There was no evidence he took the gun across state lines.

So, you're proving the above poster's point because you're assuming he took the gun across state lines even though there was no evidence shown to show that was the case.

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

#713

Post by sdenton4 »

tptacek wrote: post #416
sdenton4 wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The argument around plea bargains is pretty simple. You have someone over a barrel: "Take the deal and go to prison for two or five years, or take a risk on a trial where you'll be put away for life. And btw, our conviction rate is 99.96%." You'd be crazy not to take the deal, even if you're innocent. Thus, the conviction rate doesn't actually tell us much about how strong the federal cases actually are.

That's not the structure of most plea bargains ("2 years vs. life") but more importantly, you don't have enough information in that hypothetical to determine how fair the system is, because you're not accounting for how liberally federal prosecutors bring cases. If they tend only to bring cases when they have overwhelming evidence --- which is the rap on federal prosecutors (not so much state) --- then you get the sa…

'In 2011, Swartz was arrested by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) police on state breaking-and-entering charges, after connecting a computer to the MIT network in an unmarked and unlocked closet, and setting it to download academic journal articles systematically from JSTOR using a guest user account issued to him by MIT.[13][14] Federal prosecutors, led by Carmen Ortiz, later charged him with two counts of wire fraud and eleven violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,[15] carrying a cumulative maximum penalty of $1 million in fines, 35 years in prison, asset forfeiture, restitution, and supervised release.[16] Swartz declined a plea bargain under which he would have served six months in federal prison.[17] Two days after the prosecution rejected a counter-offer by Swartz, he was found dead by suicide in his Brooklyn apartment.[18][19] In 2013, Swartz was inducted posthumously into the Internet Hall of Fame.[20]'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz

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

#714

Post by kelseyfrog »

notch656a wrote: post #697
kelseyfrog wrote: post #694

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would evidence of a prohibition against an inanimate object change your mind?

I would be convinced if you could cite prohibition against inanimate data that maintains the 4th amendment protections in US while simultaneously thwarting those determined to share and manipulate that data. It might, might, work somewhere in someplace like Singapore where the population has widespread support for execution of those found with contraband and few constitutional protections. Prohibition has doubtful ef…

And what would this evidence convince you of?

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

#715

Post by seibelj »

vmception wrote: post #334
vmception wrote: post #164

> charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the United States Do you think there are more charges to come? If they think they actually laundered money through businesses, why didn't they charge them with multiple counts of money laundering and multiple counts of wire fraud and a violation of the CFAA?

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.

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

#716

Post by jhugo »

openhandcrimp wrote: post #53
gruez wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah wtf, I'm not sure why he's randomly namedropping it.

I don't understand why you are being so aggressive. This is a post about news on laundering crypto. I am aware of a technology that seems to cater to that use case.

I would assume that it's because your comment reads like an advertisement, since it name-drops (and links to) a specific mixer rather than just saying "It seems that a coin mixer could have been used..." Is there anything novel about this particular mixer? If not, why link to this one specifically?

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

#717

Post by notch656a »

kelseyfrog wrote: post #714
notch656a wrote: post #697

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be convinced if you could cite prohibition against inanimate data that maintains the 4th amendment protections in US while simultaneously thwarting those determined to share and manipulate that data. It might, might, work somewhere in someplace like Singapore where the population has widespread support for execution of those found with contraband and few constitutional protections. Prohibition has doubtful ef…

And what would this evidence convince you of?

I'm saying it [criteria from my previous statement] would convince me to change my mind, was that not the question you asked?

Allow me to rewrite since it wasn't understand I was replying to your question:

I would be convinced to change my mind if you could cite prohibition against inanimate data that maintains the 4th amendment protections in US while simultaneously thwarting those determined to share and manipulate that data.

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

#718

Post by BLKNSLVR »

AlexanderTheGr8 wrote: post #64

> “After the execution of court-authorized search warrants of online accounts controlled by Lichtenstein and Morgan, special agents obtained access to files within an online account controlled by Lichtenstein,” the press release said. “Those files contained the private keys required to access the digital wallet that directly received the funds stolen from Bitfinex, and allowed special agents to lawfully seize and rec…

There's an unbalanced relationship there, however, in that the criminal only has to be an idiot (or even just "not smart enough") once, to ruin an entire chain of previously smart actions. Law enforcement may only need one thread to unravel an otherwise finely crafted crime.

There's also a lot of time for law enforcement to try and find these threads as well, meaning the perpetrator could well be living in paranoia for as long as the statute of limitations lasts.

People that are capable of getting away with life-changing money type crimes would often be better off being entrepreneurs at the edges of existing regulation. Hello cryptocurrency...

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

#719

Post by CuriousCosmic »

judge2020 wrote: post #607
voldacar wrote: post #596

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

But are there any exchanges that swap btc for monero or eth that don’t have KYC requirements? Seems like it’d need to be off-chain somewhat, unlike uniswap.

There are plenty that'd swap bitcoin (BTC) for litecoin (LTC) without KYC despite the fact that LTC can now do private transactions via MWEB. As networks integrate private Tx support, breaking the visible chain is going to be getting easier and easier.

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

#720

Post by pimbrah »

323 wrote: post #703
young_unixer wrote: post #695

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another reason why Monero is better. With Monero, it wouldn't have mattered that AlphaBay was hacked.

Funny you would say that, because if you read the indictment, these people did actually deposit Monero on one exchange: > VCE 4 Account 2 was entirely funded by approximately 13,200 XMR via approximately 21 transactions that took place between in or around November 2017 and March 2019. > Another account at VCE 4 (“VCE 4 Account 3”) was created on or about November 20, 2017, and was registered in the name of another R…

But the accounts 1 and 2 on VCE 4 (the ones funded by Monero) weren't registered in either Morgan's or Lichtenstein's name. They were created with fake credentials.

The feds were able to link them to the couple because bitcoins were moved from VCE 4 to other accounts that also had received bitcoins which were traceable to their alphabay accounts.

If they had funneled everything through monero I can't say that they wouldn't have got caught like this.

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