“Two individuals were arrested this morning in Manhattan for an alleged conspiracy to launder cryptocurrency that was stolen during the 2016 hack of Bitfinex, … valued at approximately $4.5 billion. Thus far, law enforcement has seized over $3.6 billion.” justice.gov/opa/pr/two-arr…
That’s just …. a lot of money for one law enforcement action.
Like, how many surveillance vans will they buy?
Like, how many surveillance vans will they buy?
DAG Lisa Monaco says it’s “the department’s largest financial seizure ever.”
“Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and his wife, Heather Morgan, 31, both of New York, New York, are scheduled to make their initial appearances in federal court today at 3:00 p.m. in Manhattan.”
With the money they say they’ve seized so far, DOJ could buy one Virginia class nuclear-powered attack submarine with all the options.
It’s a fascinatingly complex forensic tracing investigation. Just to give a basic visual sense, the statement of facts has a lot of charts that look like this. justice.gov/opa/press-rele… 
Some tipsters the investigators relied on *might* be up for a reward valued at more than $400 million
As I read this, the govt was so worried about the largest financial seizure ever potentially slipping through their fingers that they did it without a warrant, on the basis of "exigent circumstances" and some unnamed bureaucrat's approval, and went and got one a day later.
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