Just over a year after being sentenced to five years in prison for stealing billions of dollars in Bitcoin, hacker Ilya Lichtenstein has walked free. Lichtenstein announced his release in a post on X, specifically crediting Trump: “Thanks to President Trump’s First Step Act, I have been released from prison early. I am committed to making a positive impact in cybersecurity as quickly as possible.”
The First Step Act Lichtenstein is referencing is a criminal justice reform bill that was passed in 2018 during the first Trump administration and expands early release options such as earned time credits. A Trump administration official confirmed the early release in a statement to CNBC, claiming Lichtenstein “has served significant time on his sentence and is currently on home confinement consistent with the law and Bureau of Prisons policies.”
Lichtenstein’s wife, Heather Morgan, responded to his announcement post with a photo of the two of them. Morgan, who some may know as the notorious rapper “Razzlekhan” or the “Alligator of Wall Street,” was also accused of planning to launder billions of dollars worth of bitcoins stolen in the 2016 hack of crypto exchange Bitfinex. She was sentenced to only 18 months in prison, but was apparently also released early, a development she announced from her bathtub in a post on X in October. Morgan and Lichtenstein were not arrested for the hack until 2022. The pair have since become the subject of a Netflix documentary and an upcoming film.
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