This week, Lichtenstein was reunited with his spouse and fellow hacker Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan.
This week, Lichtenstein was reunited with his spouse and fellow hacker Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan.
Just over a year following his five-year prison sentence for the misappropriation of billions in Bitcoin, hacker Ilya Lichtenstein is now free. He shared his release via a post on X, attributing gratitude to Trump: “Thanks to President Trump’s First Step Act, I’ve been released from prison ahead of schedule. I am dedicated to positively impacting cybersecurity as soon as possible.”
The First Step Act mentioned by Lichtenstein is a criminal justice reform measure enacted in 2018 during Trump’s first term, expanding early release options, including earned time credits. An official from the Trump administration verified the early release in a statement to CNBC, asserting that Lichtenstein “has completed a significant portion of his sentence and is now on home confinement in accordance with legal guidelines and Bureau of Prisons regulations.”
Lichtenstein’s spouse, Heather Morgan, responded to his announcement with a photograph of both of them. Morgan, known by some as the notorious rapper “Razzlekhan” or “the Crocodile of Wall Street,” faced charges for the operation to launder billions of dollars in Bitcoin taken during the 2016 hack of the crypto exchange Bitfinex. Although she received an 18-month prison sentence, she was also reportedly released early, a revelation she made from her bathtub in an October post on X. Morgan and Lichtenstein weren’t apprehended for the hack until 2022. The couple has since been featured in a Netflix docuseries and has an upcoming film in production.
