The accused crypto burglar and rapper who dubs herself “The Crocodile of Wall Street” and “Razzlekhan” has landed a job with a tech company — even though she’s under house arrest for allegedly orchestrating a scheme to launder $4.5 billion of stolen bitcoin.
Heather Morgan, 31, is now employed by an unknown tech firm despite the legal peril she and her husband, Ilya Lichtenstein, face over accusations they attempted to launder 119,754 bitcoin that they are said to have stolen when the Bitfinex crypto exchange was hacked in 2016.
A federal magistrate judge granted a request by her attorney to modify the terms of her home confinement so that she can work three days a week from the New York City offices of a tech company, according to Bloomberg News.
Federal prosecutors raised no objection to the request.
Morgan will work for the unnamed company “in the role of growth marketing and business development specialist,” according to her attorney, Eugene Gorokhov.
The judge also approved Gorokhov’s request to keep the name of the company sealed so as to protect Morgan’s safety. Federal prosecutors have been made aware of which company is employing Morgan.
“That information is not noted in this public filing due to the fact that Ms. Morgan has been subject to disparaging comments and harassment on social media as a result of the intense media coverage of this case,” Gorokhov said.
She will work at the firm for three days every week from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., according to the court filing cited by Bloomberg News.
Morgan and Lichtenstein, who allegedly used tricks that were “pulled from the pages of a spy novel,” were charged by the federal government last February for what was described at the time as the largest financial seizure ever by authorities.
They face up to 25 years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
While Morgan was freed on $3 million bond, her husband was not granted bail and has remained in federal custody since his arrest last year.
In March of last year, the couple asked to delay the case so as to start negotiating a plea deal. Another court hearing is scheduled for later this month.
Federal authorities were initially opposed to bail for the couple due to a purported flight risk.
Prosecutors argued in court that Morgan and Lichtenstein had “access to numerous fraudulent identities and documents purchased on the darknet, and the ability to easily acquire more.”
The feds asserted that the couple “have been setting up a contingency plan for a life in Ukraine and/or Russia prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
In January of last year, federal agents raided the couple’s apartment and retrieved multiple phones and SIM cards. The couple also kept a sizable stash of foreign currency, according to investigators.
Morgan once penned a Forbes column in which she warned of “cybercriminals and fraudsters” taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Morgan and Lichtenstein purportedly spent the proceeds from their laundering scheme on various purchases, including a $500 Walmart gift card, the aforementioned gold coins and NFTs, according to the criminal complaint.
The Justice Department said it has captured $3.6 billion in cryptocurrency from the Bitfinex hack in its “largest financial seizure ever.”
Additional Reporting by Thomas Barrabi
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
