The U.S. Government has demanded the return of approximately 94,643 BTC, along with some BCH, BSV, and BTG, that were lost in the 2016 Bitfinex hack to the exchange.
Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan were arrested and sentenced in 2022 for stealing 119,754 BTC, which was worth $72 million at the time but is now valued at over $11.8 billion. This has sparked controversy surrounding the compensation plan for the victims of the hack.
Bitfinex’s Compensation Plan and Court’s Controversial Ruling
Following the August 2016 attack, Bitfinex suspended withdrawals and initiated a recovery plan, socializing a 36% loss for all accounts. Users received BFX tokens as compensation, which could be exchanged for iFinex shares or fiat money. All BFX tokens were redeemed by customers within eight months, fulfilling the government’s requirements for reimbursing the victims.
In October 2024, the U.S. government revealed that Bitfinex could potentially receive the full compensation from the lawsuit, as it had already compensated its customers. However, the government acknowledged that many customers still suffered losses in the value of their accounts.
