Ilya Lichtenstein, who was sentenced to five years in prison in November 2024 after pleading guilty to charges related to the hack of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex in 2016, has been released from prison after just 14 months behind bars.
“Thank you to the president [Donald] Under Trump’s First Step Act, I was released from prison early,” Lichtenstein said Thursday on X. “I remain committed to making a positive impact on cybersecurity as soon as possible.”
Trump signed the First Step Act, a prison and sentencing reform bill proposed and approved by lawmakers in 2018, reportedly aimed at saving taxpayers’ money.
Lichtenstein thanked his supporters and criticized his “enemies,” writing, “I can’t wait to prove you wrong,” while reiterating that he “remains committed to making a positive impact on cybersecurity.”
While some praised Lichtenstein for X, others were less forgiving. An onchain investigator who goes by the name Specter on X posted a meme saying “crime is legal”, while CB32 asked “how much did you pay?” » And Cryptoenthusiast asked: “Where is the 120,000 stolen from Bitfinex?
Lichtenstein and his wife, rapper Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan, were arrested in February 2022. Morgan was sentenced to 18 months in prison and was released in October after serving approximately eight months.
The Bitfinex hack in August 2016 resulted in the theft of 119,754 BTC, worth around $71 million at the time, but over $10 billion at current prices. Authorities recovered approximately 94,000 BTC, and in January 2025, US prosecutors filed a motion to have the recovered BTC returned to Bitfinex.
Lichtenstein pleaded guilty to a charge of money laundering conspiracy and admitted to hacking crypto assets. He also claimed that his wife had nothing to do with this crime. He managed to convert around 25,000 BTC into other cryptocurrencies and physical gold coins, the majority of which was recovered by the US government, according to a TRM report.
Lichtenstein’s release comes as President Trump’s use of executive clemency in crypto-related cases has drawn criticism, although Lichtenstein himself has not been pardoned. Between January and October, Trump pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, Arthur Hayes and three other co-founders of the BitMex exchange convicted of Bank Secrecy Act violations, as well as Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who had pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering at the world’s largest exchange.
