The most infamous crypto-related money laundering case in history has caught the attention of Netflix.
The video entertainment streaming company has green-lit a documentary series depicting the case of the Bitfinex crypto exchange hack of 2016, in which 120,000 Bitcoins were stolen. The announcement comes just days after the arrest of the married hacker couple, who have already been labeled the “crypto Bonnie and Clyde.”
Sponsored
Ilya Lichtenstein (34) and his wife, Heather Morgan (31), allegedly stole 119,754 bitcoins from cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex in 2016. The assets stolen were worth approximately $71 million at the time, and nearly $5 billion at today’s BTC price, as of this writing.
The crypto “Bonnie and Clyde” were arrested on February 8th, for alleged conspiring to launder billions of dollars in stolen crypto after a hacker breached Bitfinex’s security systems to initiate more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions in 2016.
Throughout the past 5 years, around 25K of the stolen bitcoins have been moved through complicated money laundering schemes, some of which ended up being deposited into accounts directly controlled by Morgan and Lichtenstein themselves.
Sponsored
Millions of dollars were cashed out via Bitcoin ATMs, or exchanged in order to buy gold, NFTs, or even Walmart gift cards.
The remainder of around 94K bitcoins remained locked in a cryptocurrency wallet, which federal agents have since managed to seize. The value of the recovered crypto surpassed $3.6 billion at the time of the seizure.
According to the Department of Justice’s report, the couple are being charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Both charges could potentially carry a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
In the meantime, Netflix will set about reconstructing the case and the ensuing investigation of the biggest financial crime case in history.
According to the announcement, the new documentary series will be directed by an experienced team of filmmakers. So far, it has been announced that Chris Smith, the creator of ‘FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened’ and docuseries sensation ‘Tiger King,’ and Nick Bilton, the man behind ‘Fake Famous,’ and ‘American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road,‘ will be working together as executive producers of the new Netflix documentary series.
