Ilya Lichtenstein, who was sentenced to 5 years in jail in November 2024 after pleading responsible to prices tied to the 2016 Bitfinex cryptocurrency change hack, was launched from jail after simply 14 months behind bars.
“Because of President [Donald] Trump’s First Step Act, I’ve been launched from jail early,” Lichtenstein said on X on Thursday. “I stay dedicated to creating a optimistic affect in cybersecurity as quickly as I can.”
Trump signed the First Step Act, a jail and sentencing reform invoice proposed and permitted by legislators in 2018, purportedly aimed toward saving taxpayers cash.
Lichtenstein thanked his supporters and criticized his “haters,” writing, “I sit up for proving you improper,” whereas reiterating that he “stays dedicated to creating a optimistic affect in cybersecurity.”
Whereas some congratulated Lichtenstein on X, others had been much less forgiving. An onchain investigator who goes by Specter on X posted a meme saying “crime is authorized”, whereas CB32 asked “how a lot did you pay?” And Cryptoenthusiast requested, “The place’s the 120,000 stolen from Bitfinex?”
Lichtenstein and his spouse, rapper Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan, had been arrested in February 2022. Morgan acquired an 18-month sentence and was launched in October after serving roughly eight months.
The Bitfinex hack in August 2016 resulted within the theft of 119,754 BTC, value roughly $71 million on the time, however greater than $10 billion at present costs. Authorities recovered about 94,000 BTC, and in January 2025, U.S. prosecutors filed a motion for the recovered BTC to be returned to Bitfinex.
Lichtenstein pleaded responsible to a cash laundering conspiracy cost and admitted to the hack of crypto property. He additionally claimed his spouse had nothing to do with the crime. He managed to transform about 25,000 BTC into different cryptocurrencies and into bodily gold cash, the vast majority of which the U.S. authorities recovered, in accordance with a TRM report.
Lichtenstein’s launch comes as President Trump’s use of government clemency in crypto-related instances has drawn criticism, although Lichtenstein himself was not pardoned. Between January and October, Trump pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, Arthur Hayes and three other BitMex exchange cofounders convicted of Financial institution Secrecy Act violations, and Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who had pleaded responsible to enabling cash laundering on the world’s largest change.
