Ilya Lichtenstein, the Russian-U.S. national behind the 2016 hack of crypto exchange Bitfinex, said he has been released from prison early under a bipartisan prison-reform law signed by Donald Trump.
Lichtenstein, 38, was sentenced in November 2024 to five years in prison after pleading guilty to a money-laundering conspiracy tied to the theft of nearly 120,000 bitcoin, now worth billions of dollars. Late Thursday, he wrote on X that he had been freed early “thanks to President Trump’s First Step Act.”
A Trump administration official confirmed to CNBC that Lichtenstein has served significant time and is now on home confinement in line with federal prison rules. The Bureau of Prisons did not immediately comment, and his attorneys did not respond to requests for clarification.
Lichtenstein’s wife, Heather Morgan, who also pleaded guilty to helping launder the stolen funds, celebrated his release on X, saying it was the “best New Year’s present” after years apart. Morgan herself was released early from an 18-month sentence in October and also publicly thanked Trump.
The First Step Act, signed by Trump in 2018, allows certain inmates to earn earlier release to home confinement. While it is unclear whether Trump or the White House played a direct role, Lichtenstein’s release follows other high-profile crypto-related clemency actions, including Trump’s pardons of Ross Ulbricht and Changpeng Zhao.
