Inside the Bitcoin Laundering Case That Confounded the Internet

Charged with conspiring to launder billions of dollars in Bitcoin, the couple, Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and Heather Morgan, 31, were accused of siphoning off chunks of the purloined currency and trying to hide it in a complex network of digital wallets and internet personas.

The charges were a watershed in the evolving regulation of digital currency and, to some, a step forward in the government’s ability to trace its illegal laundering.

Prosecutors say they found evidence that Mr. Lichtenstein and Ms. Morgan were sophisticated criminals, including encrypted devices, false identities and books with secret compartments cut into the pages.Credit...

Mr. Lichtenstein and Ms. Morgan hardly appeared to be suave, or subtle, digital cat burglars — or the tip of a grand conspiracy.

Ms. Morgan was a regular contributor to Forbes and Inc., writing columns that advised her fellow entrepreneurs on how to protect their digital currency, and recommending rapping as a form of self-care

 According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Washington, “this shuffling, which created a voluminous number of transactions, appeared to be designed to conceal the path of the stolen”.