A woman accused of laundering billions of dollars in stolen cryptocurrency along with her husband was leading a double life as a self-proclaimed “raunchy rapper” named Razzlekhan.
Heather Morgan was arrested along with her husband, Ilya Lichtenstein, in Manhattan on Tuesday for their alleged role in laundering stolen bitcoins in a 2016 hack of virtual currency exchange Bitfinex. They are not accused of participating in the hack itself, but face charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and defrauding the United States.
However, the alter ego of the crypto scammer is overshadowing the notoriety of her crimes as the international press has brought to light the numerous videos with which the 31-year-old woman promoted her artistic career as a rapper.
His publications on social networks show an apparently luxurious lifestyle and, among other things, he calls himself a “rude moneymaker”. In them there is an extensive catalog of rap videos, inspired by the philosophy of DIY (Do it yourself, for its acronym in English) and calling itself the “Turkish Martha Stewart” wave “Queen of Korean Waffles”.
On his website, Morgan calls himselfto Razzlekhan or “Versace Bedouin…the raunchy rapper with more dynamism than Genghis Khan”.
“I’m a real risk taker/a pirate who jumps on the bandwagon/I’m a big money maker,” raps in a video in which she refers to herself as the “Wall Street Crocodile”.
“I’ve come so far but I don’t know where I’m going/ Following the rules blindly is for fools” he says, spinning Wall Street in sunglasses, a leopard print scarf and a shiny gold jacket.
Morgan, 31, She was arrested along with her husband, Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, in Manhattan on Tuesday.
The couple is accused of conspiring to launder 119,754 stolen bitcoins after a hacker broke into Bitfinex and initiated more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions. Justice Department officials said the transactions at the time were valued at $71 million worth of bitcoin, but with the increase in the value of the coin, it is now valued at more than $4.5 billion.
Prosecutors allege the couple tried to launder money through a network of exchange houses or claimed the money represented payments to Morgan’s startup, the department said. Prosecutors said Tuesday that the illegal proceeds were spent on things ranging from gold and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to “absolutely mundane things like buying a $500 Walmart gift card.”
At a bond hearing Friday, a defense attorney called the charges “little” and overblown. “I don’t think they’ll find out that billions of dollars have been laundered”He said.
However, thanks to his ubiquitous social media presence, since his arrest details have emerged about Heather Morgan, of California, and Ilya Lichtenstein, a dual US-Russian citizen from Illinois who is also known by the nickname “Dutch” (Dutch).
“His art often resembles something between an acid trip and a delightful nightmare,” Morgan wrote about herself on her website, Razzlekhan.com. “Definitely not for the faint of heart or easily offended.”
“Razz likes to push the boundaries of what people are comfortable with,” He said. “His style has often been described as ‘sexy horror comedy.'”
Social media posts promote a lavish lifestyle. A video shows a glimpse of a luxury apartment in Manhattan with a clear view of the sky and other buildings. In an October Facebook post, Morgan hinted that she wanted to buy a painting from Sotheby’s auction house.
When he wasn’t making rap videos or posting photos of his artwork or his Bengal cat on Facebook, Morgan was a contributor to the financial publications Forbes and Inc.
A June 2020 article he wrote for Forbes was headlined: “Experts share tips for protecting your business from cybercriminals.”
More discreet online, Lichtenstein described himself on LinkedIn as a “tech entrepreneur, coder, and investor” and founder of several tech companies.
In a Facebook post, he recalled how he proposed to Morgan: “My best friend and the woman of my dreams!” It was what Lichtenstein called a “strange and creative multi-channel marketing campaign” in which he put up posters of Razzlekhan in New York City and his face on a billboard in Times Square.
In a YouTube video, Morgan said: “I’ve also been broke and homeless several times…Money comes and goes. Sometimes you have it, sometimes you don’t.”
“It is very nice when you have it, but nothing in this life is certain”he claimed. “Right now, I’m basically living my ideal life.”
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Source-www.infobae.com