Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Nov 24, 2025

Woman Accused Of $4.5 Billion Crypto Laundering Scheme Moonlights As A Rapper And Forbes Writer

Woman Accused Of $4.5 Billion Crypto Laundering Scheme Moonlights As A Rapper And Forbes Writer

The DOJ has charged Heather Morgan, who uses the stage name Razzlekhan, with attempting to launder thousands of bitcoins alongside her husband, startup founder Ilya Lichtenstein.

A husband and wife were arrested in Manhattan on Tuesday for allegedly conspiring to launder $4.5 billion in stolen cryptocurrency. In an announcement, the Department of Justice called its confiscation of 94,000 bitcoins, which amounts to $3.6 billion, the agency’s “largest financial seize ever.”

The department named Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan as the individuals responsible for allegedly attempting to launder 119,754 bitcoin stolen from the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.

Bitfinex was targeted by hackers in August 2016 who “​​initiated more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions,” the DOJ said. Investigators claim the stolen bitcoins were sent to a digital wallet managed by Lichtenstein. Roughly 25,000 of those bitcoins were then allegedly moved to financial accounts controlled by Lichtenstein and Morgan while the remainder stayed in the wallet used in connection with the hack. DOJ agents said they obtained private keys to the wallet using search warrants, enabling them to seize more than 94,000 bitcoins stolen from Bitfinex.

The announcement shared little about the identities of Liechtenstein and Morgan except that they are in their early 30s. But court documents also identified the duo by their aliases, “Dutch” and “Razzlekhan.” Twitter users and journalists have already found what appear to be numerous profiles belonging to Morgan, who, before her arrest, was seemingly pursuing a career as an influencer.

On Twitter, Morgan allegedly identified herself as a “serial entrepreneur,” “surreal artist,” “rapper,” and “also Forbes writer.” Indeed, a Forbes contributor page for Heather R Morgan lists numerous posts, including a story titled “Experts Share Tips to Protect Your Business From Cybercriminals.” Morgan also appears to have written for Inc.

Morgan also developed a rapper persona known as Razzlekhan, dropping several tracks and music videos on YouTube, as first pointed out by NBC News reporter Kevin Collier. “This song represents who I am: a badass CEO and female rapper, who's ready to take on Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and any other place that oppresses individual uniqueness and self expression,” Razzlekhan says in a YouTube description for her “Rap Anthem for Misfits & Weirdos.” Her YouTube page also includes fashion unboxing videos, a song about endometriosis, footage from a livestream of Black Lives Matter protests in New York City, and a video of Morgan giving Lichtenstein a quarantine haircut.

On a personal website, Razzlekhan likens herself to “Genghis Khan, but with more pizzazz,” saying that “her style has been described as ‘sexy horror comedy,’ because of her fondness for combining dark and disturbing concepts with dirty jokes and gestures.” She adds, “No one knows for sure where this rapper's from — could be the North African desert, the jungles of Vietnam, or another universe.” (The DOJ report states that Morgan and her husband currently reside in New York.)

BuzzFeed News attempted to contact Morgan through Razzlekhan’s Facebook page but did not receive a response. The pair were scheduled to appear in a Manhattan federal court on Thursday at 3 p.m.

On a LinkedIn page that appears to belong to Morgan, however, she is listed as a partner at Demandpath, a “boutique micro-fund investing” firm. A LinkedIn profile seemingly belonging to Lichtenstein also places him at Demandpath. Prior to that, he’s described on Crunchbase as a founder of the advertising research startup MixRank, which was incubated at Y Combinator and raised more than $1.5 million in funding from Mark Cuban and other venture capitalists. (Lichtenstein is nowhere to be found on MixRank’s website.) Neither Demandpath nor MixRank responded to BuzzFeed News’ request for comment.

Cuban told BuzzFeed News his last email exchange with Lichtenstein was in 2012. “I also found an email saying he left MixRank 6 years ago. That’s the extent of what I know about the guy,” Cuban said.

Y Combinator did not respond to BuzzFeed News’ request for comment.

Both Morgan and Lichtenstein appear to come from the finance industry, and the DOJ claims they were able to use “sophisticated laundering techniques,” such as using fictitious identities to open online accounts, automating transactions through computer programs, and “chain hopping,” or rapidly exchanging one cryptocurrency for another, to conceal their money trail.

The pair have been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States, which carry maximum prison sentences of 20 years and five years respectively.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK Unveils Critical-Minerals Strategy to Break China Supply-Chain Grip
Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia” Extends U.K. No. 1 Run to Five Weeks
UK VPN Sign-Ups Surge by Over 1,400 % as Age-Verification Law Takes Effect
Former MEP Nathan Gill Jailed for Over Ten Years After Taking Pro-Russia Bribes
Majority of UK Entrepreneurs Regard Government as ‘Anti-Business’, Survey Shows
UK’s Starmer and US President Trump Align as Geneva Talks Probe Ukraine Peace Plan
UK Prime Minister Signals Former Prince Andrew Should Testify to US Epstein Inquiry
Royal Navy Deploys HMS Severn to Shadow Russian Corvette and Tanker Off UK Coast
China’s Wedding Boom: Nightclubs, Mountains and a Demographic Reset
Fugees Founding Member Pras Michel Sentenced to 14 Years in High-Profile US Foreign Influence Case
WhatsApp’s Unexpected Rise Reshapes American Messaging Habits
United States: Judge Dressed Up as Elvis During Hearings – and Was Forced to Resign
Johnson Blasts ‘Incoherent’ Covid Inquiry Findings Amid Report’s Harsh Critique of His Government
Lord Rothermere Secures £500 Million Deal to Acquire Telegraph Titles
Maduro Tightens Security Measures as U.S. Strike Threat Intensifies
U.S. Envoys Deliver Ultimatum to Ukraine: Sign Peace Deal by Thursday or Risk Losing American Support
Zelenskyy Signals Progress Toward Ending the War: ‘One of the Hardest Moments in History’ (end of his business model?)
U.S. Issues Alert Declaring Venezuelan Airspace a Hazard Due to Escalating Security Conditions
The U.S. State Department Announces That Mass Migration Constitutes an Existential Threat to Western Civilization and Undermines the Stability of Key American Allies
Students Challenge AI-Driven Teaching at University of Staffordshire
Pikeville Medical Center Partners with UK’s Golisano Children’s Network to Expand Pediatric Care
Germany, France and UK Confirm Full Support for Ukraine in US-Backed Security Plan
UK Low-Traffic Neighbourhoods Face Rising Backlash as Pandemic Schemes Unravel
UK Records Coldest Night of Autumn as Sub-Zero Conditions Sweep the Country
UK at Risk of Losing International Doctors as Workforce Exodus Grows, Regulator Warns
ASU Launches ASU London, Extending Its Innovation Brand to the UK Education Market
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to Visit China in January as Diplomatic Reset Accelerates
Google Launches Voluntary Buyouts for UK Staff Amid AI-Driven Company Realignment
UK braces for freezing snap as snow and ice warnings escalate
Majority of UK Novelists Fear AI Could Displace Their Work, Cambridge Study Finds
UK's Carrier Strike Group Achieves Full Operational Capability During NATO Drill in Mediterranean
Trump and Mamdani to Meet at the White House: “The Communist Asked”
Nvidia Again Beats Forecasts, Shares Jump in After-Hours Trading
Wintry Conditions Persist Along UK Coasts After Up to Seven Centimetres of Snow
UK Inflation Eases to 3.6 % in October, Opening Door for Rate Cut
UK Accelerates Munitions Factory Build-Out to Reinforce Warfighting Readiness
UK Consumer Optimism Plunges Ahead of November Budget
A Decade of Innovation Stagnation at Apple: The Cook Era Critique
Caribbean Reparations Commission Seeks ‘Mutually Beneficial’ Justice from UK
EU Insists UK Must Contribute Financially for Access to Electricity Market and Broader Ties
UK to Outlaw Live-Event Ticket Resales Above Face Value
President Donald Trump Hosts Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at White House to Seal Major Defence and Investment Deals
German Entertainment Icons Alice and Ellen Kessler Die Together at Age 89
UK Unveils Sweeping Asylum Reforms with 20-Year Settlement Wait and Conditional Status
UK Orders Twitter Hacker to Repay £4.1 Million Following 2020 High-Profile Breach
Popeyes UK Eyes Century Mark as Fried-Chicken Chain Accelerates Roll-out
Two-thirds of UK nurses report working while unwell amid staffing crisis
Britain to Reform Human-Rights Laws in Sweeping Asylum Policy Overhaul
Nearly Half of Job Losses Under Labour Government Affect UK Youth
UK Chancellor Reeves Eyes High-Value Home Levy in Budget to Raise Tens of Billions
×