Elaine Jean Tech 02.12.2022 16:Feb PM EST

Netflix to Produce Docuseries About Alleged Bitcoin Hack Money Laundering Couple

Netflix is developing a docuseries with the modern-day Bonnie and Clyde cryptocurrency couple.

Following the 2016 Bitfinex breach, a couple in their 30s dubbed the crypto "Bonnie and Clyde," has quickly made headlines after being accused of trying to launder about 120,000 bitcoin worth $4.5 billion.

Ilya Lichtenstein, also known as "Dutch," is a Russian-American citizen, while his wife Heather "Razzlekhan" Morgan is US-born. This week, the couple was arrested together and detained in Manhattan for alleged financial crime.

After a hack, the US Department of Justice seized bitcoin worth $3.6 billion, recouping the vast majority of the funds lost in the incident.

Morgan raps on TikTok under the name Razzlekhan, and she is also a Forbes contributor who once wrote an essay on how businesses can protect themselves from hackers.

While Mr. Lichtenstein, who goes by the nickname Dutch, has both American and Russian citizenship and has described himself as a tech entrepreneur.

Netflix Docuseries

The show about this couple will be directed by Chris Smith, who has directed a lot of Netflix documentaries and docuseries about scam artists and crime.

In 2019, Smith made a movie called "Fyre: The Greatest Festival That Never Happened." It was about the infamous 2017 music festival that was fake and led to the founder, Billy McFarland, being sentenced to six years in prison.

The Variety reported that Netflix's "The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann" was also directed by him that same year. It was about the disappearance of a 3-year-old girl named Madeleine McCann, who went missing while on vacation with her family in Portugal.

On top of that, the "100 Foot Wave," which was made for HBO last year, was directed by him. It was a show about the life of big wave surfer Garrett McNamara. The show has been renewed for a second season by the channel.

Chris Smith executive produces the series along with Nick Bilton, who has worked on docuseries like "American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mind behind the Silk Road," "Fake Famous," and "The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley." Smith is also the show's showrunner.

Bitfinex Bitcoin Hacking

The Justice Department said on Tuesday(Feb.08) that it had seized over $3.6 billion worth of stolen Bitcoin and arrested a married couple accused of laundering the cryptocurrency that hackers had stolen six years ago.

The New York Times reported that they were accused in a criminal complaint of conspiring to launder 119,754 Bitcoin that had been stolen in 2016 from Hong Kong-based Bitfinex, one of the world's largest virtual currency exchanges.

The US authorities believe the intruder carried out more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions and ultimately sent the bitcoin collected to a wallet held by Lichtenstein. They have not accused the couple of carrying out the cyberattack.

Proven Guilty and Free

It was reported that around 25,000 bitcoins were transferred out of Lichtenstein's wallet, with part of the funds going to accounts controlled by Lichtenstein and his wife. The remaining 94,000 bitcoins were kept in the wallet that had been used after the breach had been done.

A federal court in Manhattan made a ruling from Mr. Lichtenstein and Ms. Morgan on Tuesday (Feb. 8) in the afternoon. A judge ordered them to be freed on bond, with Mr. Lichtenstein's bond set at $5 million and Ms. Morgan's bond set at $3 million.