Ilya Lichtenstein, who was convicted last year of money laundering charges in connection with his role in the massive hack of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex in 2016, announced his early release in a post shared on X last week. The 38-year-old attributed his release to U.S. President Donald Trump’s First Step. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ inmate tracking system, Lichtenstein is scheduled to be released on February 9, 2026.
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Step One, passed by the Trump administration in 2018, is bipartisan legislation aimed at improving criminal justice outcomes and reducing the federal prison population through various reforms, including creating a “risk and needs assessment system” to determine risk of recidivism and facilitating early release in certain cases.
Lichtenstein and his wife, Heather Rhiannon “Razzlekhan” Morgan, pleaded guilty to the Bitfinex attack in 2023, following their arrest in February 2022. The 2016 security breach allowed Lichtenstein to authorize more than 2,000 transactions, transferring 119,754 bitcoins (then worth about $71 million) from Bitfinex to a cryptocurrency wallet he controls.
Law enforcement authorities recovered approximately 94,000 bitcoins (worth approximately $3.6 billion in 2022), making it one of the largest seizures in U.S. history. In January 2025, U.S. prosecutors filed a motion to return the recovered assets to Bitfinex.
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Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs reported that Lichtenstein exploited a vulnerability in Bitfinex's multi-signature withdrawal setup to initiate and authorize withdrawals without requiring approvals from BitGo, a third-party digital asset trust company.
The illicit proceeds were converted into other cryptocurrencies and funneled through mixing services like Bitcoin Fog. The couple's involvement became apparent after they purchased Walmart gift cards using the stolen bitcoins on an anonymous virtual currency exchange. The gift cards were redeemed using Walmart's iPhone app under an account in Morgan's name.
Lichtenstein was sentenced to five years in prison in November 2024. Morgan, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison shortly after, posted on X in late October 2025, stating that she was released “about a month ago” and that “prison was pretty relaxed.”
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In a statement shared with CNBC, a Trump administration official noted that Lichtenstein “served significant time on his sentence and is currently under house arrest in accordance with the law and Federal Bureau of Prisons policies.” Morgan also acknowledged the news with a message on X, saying, “The best New Year’s gift I could have received was finally having my husband home after 4 years apart.”
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