Heather Morgan, one of the married couple convicted in the Bitfinex hack, returned to social media last week after her release from prison, and the future rapper known as “Razzlekhan” touted President Donald Trump’s help during her early release.
But a White House official told CoinDesk that had nothing to do with a commutation of his sentence.
This is despite a video she posted from her bathtub over the weekend, in which she said, “I want to thank Papa Trump for shortening my sentence by 18 months,” which appears to have prompted online media reports that the president intervened.
She did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the discrepancy.
Morgan was convicted and sentenced for her role in laundering the proceeds of the computer hacking allegedly carried out by her husband, Ilya Lichtenstein. He stole nearly 120,000 bitcoins, worth about $13.8 billion at current valuation, although that value was worth significantly less during the 2016 incident and his arrest in 2022. He is still serving his five-year sentence.
The couple were the subject of a Netflix documentary released last year called “The Greatest Heist of All Time.”
Upon her early release from prison in California, which would be consistent with an inmate who has maintained good behavior, she embarked on a flurry of social media posts, including one about Trump’s high-profile pardon of former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. She posted, “I guess it’s crypto pardon season,” further suggesting that she may have benefited from the president’s intervention in her sentencing.
The pardon, which followed Trump’s earlier pardon of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, drew objections Tuesday from Senate Democrats, including Elizabeth Warren, who wrote a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, arguing that the law “signals to cryptocurrency executives and other white-collar criminals that they can commit crimes with impunity.”
At Morgan’s sentencing hearing in Washington nearly a year ago, she told the court she was “extremely sorry and deeply regretted the choices I made.” In a tearful statement, she admitted to using “her time and energy to do harm instead of good, and I am ashamed of it.”
Now, Morgan is hinting at a return to her rapping career in a pinned post on social media site X, “Who’s Ready for Razzlekhan’s NEW Music?”
Read more: Bitfinex Hack Laundress Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison
