Man who stole and laundered roughly $1B in bitcoin is sentenced to 5 years in prison

A computer expert who stole bitcoin worth billions of dollars at current prices — and then spent years laundering some of the hacked cryptocurrency with help from his wife — has been sentenced to five years in prison. Ilya Lichtenstein expressed remorse for his crimes before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced him on Thursday. Federal prosecutors say Lichtenstein masterminded one of the largest-ever thefts from a virtual currency exchange before he and his wife, Heather Rhiannon Morgan, carried out an elaborate scheme to liquidate the stolen funds. Morgan is scheduled to be sentenced on Monday for her role in the money laundering scheme.