Bitfinex crypto thief who was serving five years thanks Trump for early release

January 2, 2026 TH Author

Ilya Lichtenstein, who pleaded guilty to money-laundering charges tied to the 2016 theft of about 120,000 bitcoins from the Bitfinex exchange and was sentenced to five years in prison, has been released after roughly 14 months in the slammer.

“Thanks to President Trump’s First Step Act, I have been released from prison early,” Lichtenstein said in a late Thursday post on X.

“I remain committed to making a positive impact in cybersecurity as soon as I can,” he continued. “To the supporters, thank you for everything. To the haters, I look forward to proving you wrong.”

Trump signed the prison-reform First Step Act into law during his first term in 2018. A White House official confirmed Lichtenstein’s early release to The Register, noting that he served “significant time on his sentence” and has been placed on home confinement, “consistent with statute and Bureau of Prisons policies.”

In a subsequent Xeet and selfie, Lichtenstein’s wife Heather Morgan (aka Razzlekhan), who also pleaded guilty to helping launder the stolen crypto and received an early release from her 18-month sentence, called her husband’s release “the best New Years present I could get.”

The infamous duo were arrested in February 2022, and in August 2023 pleaded guilty to money-laundering charges related to the 2016 theft of some 120,000 bitcoins from Hong Kong-based Bitfinex.

While Lichtenstein got five years behind bars for his crimes, Morgan received a lighter sentence and only spent about nine months in the clink, thanking “Papa Trump” in a bathtub video upon her early release.

Netflix released a 2024 documentary about the Bitfinex burglars called Biggest Heist Ever. ®