Ilya Lichtenstein, who was sentenced to five years in prison in November 2024 after pleading guilty to charges related to the 2016 Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange hack, was released from prison after serving just 14 months behind bars.
“Thank you to the President [Donald] “Trump’s first step is getting me released from prison early. I’m committed to making a positive impact in cybersecurity as quickly as possible,” Lichtenstein said on Thursday.
Trump signed the First Step Act, a prison and sentencing reform bill that was proposed and approved by legislators in 2018, reportedly intended to save taxpayers money.
Lichtenstein thanked his supporters and criticized his “haters,” writing, “I look forward to proving you wrong,” reiterating that he is “committed to making a positive impact in cybersecurity.”
While some congratulated Lichtenstein for the execution, others were less forgiving. An onchain investigator going by Specter on X posted a meme saying “Crime is legal”, while CB32 asked “How much did you pay?” And cryptoenthusiasts asked, “Where is the $120,000 stolen from Bitfinex?”
Lichtenstein and his wife, rapper Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan, were arrested in February 2022. Morgan received an 18-month sentence 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 about $71 million at the time, but more than $10 billion at current prices. Authorities recovered approximately 94,000 BTC, and in January 2025, US prosecutors filed a motion to return the recovered BTC to Bitfinex.
Lichtenstein pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy charges and admitted to the hack of crypto assets. He also claimed that his wife had nothing to do with the crime. According to the TRM report, he managed to convert approximately 25,000 BTC into other cryptocurrencies and physical gold coins, most of which was recovered by the US government.
Lichtenstein’s release comes due to his criticism of President Trump’s use of executive pardons in crypto-related cases, although Lichtenstein himself was not pardoned. Between January and October, Trump pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, Arthur Hayes and three other BitMex exchange co-founders, convicted of violating the Bank Secrecy Act, and Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering at the world’s largest exchange.