Cryptocurrencies, tokens, NFTs, virtual "assets" frauds

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Woman admits duping trader into thinking over $900k worth of her firm’s cryptocurrency was hers​

Isabella Yer Enci pleaded guilty to two cheating charges in court on Oct 1. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

Samuel Devaraj

Oct 01, 2024

SINGAPORE – A local tech company which accepts cryptocurrency as payment from its clients would convert the tokens into cash by selling them to a trader.
Isabella Yer Enci, who was then Voltron’s accounts executive tasked with contacting the trader, had asked the latter to exchange more than $900,000 worth of cryptocurrency which she claimed was hers or her parents’. In fact, it belonged to her company.
On Oct 1, the 32-year-old Singaporean pleaded guilty to two cheating charges in court.
Another four charges will be taken into consideration during her sentencing on Oct 14.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Jun Chong said that in 2021, the victim, a Malaysian woman, engaged in cryptocurrency arbitrage trading in her spare time.
She would buy cryptocurrencies from various sources, including Voltron, and sell them for a profit.
When Voltron’s finance manager resigned in September 2021, Yer took over the liaising with the trader.

But on Oct 6, 2021, Yer told one of Voltron’s investors that she had found a better job opportunity and wanted to resign. He told her to discuss the matter with the human resources department.
Four days later, Yer asked the trader if she entertained personal transactions, and when the victim said yes, they agreed on a conversion rate.
Over the next few days, Yer transferred her own cryptocurrency to the trader in exchange for cash.

Said DPP Ng: “The accused knew that it was not appropriate for her to be engaging in personal cryptocurrency conversion transactions with the victim while she was in charge of Voltron’s cryptocurrency conversion transactions with the victim.”
On Oct 18, 2021, Voltron needed to convert 300,000 USDT, the stablecoin issued by Tether Holdings, into cash to pay for certain expenses incurred by its Singapore and Malaysia operations.
She told the trader that the tokens belonged to her and arranged to exchange them for cash.
As required by Voltron, Yer sent to two of her colleagues screenshots of messages with the trader, which included the agreed-upon conversion rate and the specific recipient wallet address.
When the company approved the transaction, Yer transferred 300,000 USDT from Voltron’s crypto wallet to the one belonging to the trader.
The trader handed to Yer about $399,900 in cash at her office later that day.
Said DPP Ng: “When the victim asked the accused how she obtained such a large amount of cryptocurrency, the accused lied that it came from her personal funds as she and/or her parents had bought Bitcoin when it was much lower in value.”

After other similar transactions, Yer resigned from Voltron on Oct 26, 2021.
While closing the accounts for October 2021 some time after Oct 25, 2021, Voltron’s finance department discovered that 300,000 USDT, 265,552 USDT, and 130,538.46 USDT, which were supposed to have been converted to Singapore dollars and used to pay the company’s expenses, were unaccounted for.
On Nov 3, 2021, a Voltron staff member spoke to the trader.
“The victim informed him that the transactions were done by the accused, and that the accused had informed her that the cryptocurrency came from ‘personal fund’ and ‘parent cash-out’,” said DPP Ng.
Suspecting Yer of misappropriating Voltron’s money, the employee told the company’s management.
On Nov 5, 2021, when Yer went to Voltron’s office at Paya Lebar Square to return her work laptop and settle some administrative matters, she was asked about the transactions.
She denied knowing about them initially, but eventually admitted that she took the money, claiming that it was to pay her grandmother’s medical bills.
She signed a letter of undertaking to repay the sums that she had misappropriated within six months and paid back to the company about $201,000 over the next few days. She still owed the company about $723,000.
On Dec 2, 2021, Yer filed a police report alleging that Voltron’s employees locked her up in a meeting room for more than 12 hours and falsely accused her of stealing money. She claimed that she had transferred money to them under duress.
But DPP Ng said no one threatened her when she was in Voltron’s office on Nov 5, 2021, and that its employees knew that she was pregnant at that time.
On Sept 1, 2022, a Voltron director lodged a police report against Yer as she still owed the company money.
For each cheating charge, Yer can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.

 

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Mastermind behind crypto heist worth billions gets 5-year sentence​

The Bitfinex hack resulted in the theft of 119,754 Bitcoin, worth about US$71 million at the time. PHOTO: PEXELS

Nov 15, 2024

WASHINGTON - The mastermind behind one of the biggest-ever Bitcoin heists was ordered to serve five years in prison for conspiring with his social media rapper wife to launder money he stole by hacking into the Bitfinex exchange and grabbing crypto assets now worth billions of dollars.
Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein was sentenced in Washington on Nov 14, after he and his wife, Heather Morgan, pleaded guilty in 2023 in a scheme to hide proceeds from the 2016 hack.
Morgan, known as “Razzlekhan” in her rap videos, will be sentenced Nov 18. The government recommended an 18-month sentence for her.
Lichtenstein, 37, faced as long as 20 years behind bars.
But the government cited his substantial assistance that “has benefited numerous investigations”.
The Bitfinex hack resulted in the theft of 119,754 Bitcoin, worth about US$71 million at the time.
But since then, the token has surged from US$580 in 2016 to more than US$90,000 this week, boosting the value of the assets to billions.

“This is so massive, it is not comparable to other crypto crimes” based on its scale and complexity, US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said before sentencing.
Lichtenstein carried out his scheme over several years, which undermines defence claims that his actions were “impulsive”, the judge said.
Lichtenstein, a “highly skilled computer expert”, used several hacking techniques to gain access to the Bitfinex network, and then, in August 2016, fraudulently authorised more than 2,000 transactions to move Bitcoin to a cryptocurrency wallet he controlled, the government said.

He and his wife used sophisticated and meticulous money laundering techniques to hide the stolen proceeds, including setting up accounts under fictitious identities, moving funds in small amounts, and breaking up the trail of transactions by depositing and withdrawing funds from crypto exchanges and darknet markets.
They bought non-fungible tokens, gold and Walmart gift cards, according to the US government.
Lichtenstein “became one of the greatest money launderers that the government has encountered in the cryptocurrency space”, prosecutors wrote in an October sentencing memo.
“If the defendant were to take what he has learnt from this prosecution and incorporate it into a future money laundering scheme, he would be even better-equipped to conceal his activity while monetising his crimes,” they wrote.
Since his plea in 2023, Lichtenstein has assisted the government in other criminal cases, including as a government witness in a money laundering trial involving a mixing service called Bitcoin Fog.

Other hacks​

While Lichtenstein had no official criminal history before his arrest in 2022, the Bitfinex hack was not his first, the government said.
As a juvenile, he experimented with hacking and financial fraud, and around 2015, he illegally transferred a small amount of PayCoin, an alternative form of virtual currency, prosecutors said.
The following year, he stole about US$200,000 from a virtual currency exchange, the government said.
But he also worked in legitimate businesses.
While in college, Lichtenstein ran a digital marketing agency from his dorm, and after graduation, a software company he co-founded grew to 30 employees, the government said.
“His decision to use his skills for criminal ends is thus particularly disappointing, but it gives hope for continued successful rehabilitation,” prosecutors said in the sentencing memo.
Morgan attended her husband’s sentencing, along with Lichtenstein’s family.
Lichtenstein expressed remorse to the judge and pledged that he would use his skills to help with cyber security.
“I can make a real difference in the fight against cybercrime,” he said.
He asked that his wife avoid prison time.
“Heather is only involved in this case because of me,” he said. BLOOMBERG

 

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Razzlekhan, crypto’s most embarrassing rapper, gets 18 months in Bitfinex hack case​

Heather Morgan, 34, was sentenced on Nov 18 in Washington federal court. PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM RAZZLEKHAN/YOUTUBE

Nov 19, 2024

WASHINGTON – The woman who dubbed herself the “Crocodile of Wall Street” and “Razzlekhan” in rap videos was ordered to serve 18 months behind bars for helping her hacker husband launder cryptocurrency he stole from the Bitfinex exchange.

Heather Morgan, 34, was sentenced on Nov 18 in Washington federal court.

Last week, her husband, Ilya Lichtenstein, got five years in prison for his role in the scheme, which stemmed from his 2016 hack of the exchange and the theft of Bitcoin currently worth billions of dollars. Both pleaded guilty in 2023.

Morgan was not involved in the hack, and her husband said he recruited her to help hide the loot he had stolen.

They could have faced more prison time, but he agreed to aid the United States in other crypto prosecutions, and she persuaded him to cooperate with the authorities.

The Verge, which called her “crypto’s most embarrassing rapper”, said she made crypto-themed rap videos under the name Razzlekhan. The whole story is expected to be immortalised in a Netflix documentary series and a film called Dutch & Razzlekhan, the tech news website said.

According to prosecutors, Morgan and Lichtenstein engaged in complex money-laundering techniques, including creating accounts under fictitious identities, moving the stolen proceeds in small amounts, and breaking up the trail of transactions by depositing and withdrawing funds from crypto exchanges and darknet markets.

They purchased non-fungible tokens, gold and Walmart gift cards, court records show.

At the time of the hack, the stolen Bitcoin was worth about US$71 million (S$95 million).

Now it is valued in the billions of dollars as the price of Bitcoin has surged from US$580 to more than US$90,000.

The couple laundered 21 per cent of what was stolen in the Bitfinex hack, according to the government. BLOOMBERG