Heather Morgan certainly didn't keep a low profile — and she even wrote articles for Forbes offering tips on how businesses can protect themselves against cybercriminals.
The woman accused of laundering billions of dollars in Bitcoin linked to the 2016 Bitfinex hack was an amateur rapper who wrote articles for Forbes.
Heather Morgan certainly didn't keep a low profile — and some of her articles for the site even offered tips on how businesses can protect themselves against cybercriminals.
She is known as Razzlekhan in her rap videos — referring to herself as "The Crocodile of Wall Street." The themes of her songs ranged from investment strategies to, er, finding AirPods. One of the lyrics in her freestyle raps says:
"My tendies going global — Bitcoin, Ethereum HODL!"
If I have to suffer through this, so do you.— Connor Sephton (@ConnorSephton) February 8, 2022
Heather Morgan — the woman arrested on suspicion of laundering crypto linked to the Bitfinex hack — is also an amateur rapper. pic.twitter.com/qAK9WUfZCy
Her videos have captured the imagination of the media, and are spreading like wildfire on social media. One screenshot posted on Twitter suggests Morgan had admitted to stealing the Bitcoin in a "Never Have I Ever" TikTok video, but this has been faked.
Morgan was also a public speaker — holding one event in Brooklyn that was called "How to Social Engineer Your Way Into Anything" — detailing the act of manipulating someone into divulging information or acting in a certain way.
Her tips on crashing an event included wearing black T-shirts to look like security, bringing cash for tips, and wearing as many layers as possible so outfits could change at short notice.
And in advice that Morgan may be turning to herself, the event also focused on "how can you socially engineer yourself OUT of a bad situation?"
Listen to the CoinMarketRecap podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts
The Latest
Heather Morgan and her husband Ilya "Dutch" Lichtenstein were arrested on Tuesday morning — and charged with attempting to launder $4.5 billion stolen when the Bitfinex crypto exchange was hacked back in 2016.
They have both obtained separate legal counsel, and appeared in federal court later on Tuesday. Because they face 20 years in jail if convicted, prosecutors had asked the judge to ensure they could not be released on bail because they could be a flight risk.
The government claims that Lichtenstein had computer folders named "personas," while another file had the name "Passport_ideas" and links to falsified passports and other forms of identification. A plastic bag labeled "burner phones" was also discovered under the bed.
A judge ultimately decided to set a bond — and the government's request for $100 million was described as "laughable" by one of the defendant's lawyers.
Neither of them said anything during the hearing. Morgan wore a white hooded sweatshirt, while Lichtenstein wore jeans and a gray shirt.
The judge has set bail for Morgan at $3 million — on the condition that her parents post their home as a security. Meanwhile, Lichtenstein's bail has been set at $5 million.
In a rather prescient tweet posted in December, Morgan had written:
"The amount of spam I’m getting about sketchy crypto get rich stuff really makes me feel like this bubble is gonna pop soon!"
