Statue of Themis outside the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, USAWASHINGTON, Feb 10 >The defense of the Russian citizen Ilya Liechtenstein, who was arrested on charges of laundering stolen bitcoins, and his wife Heather Morgan petitioned the court to release them, arguing that this was a risk to the woman’s health. , and detention may create additional risks to her health. «The detention of Ms. Morgan and Mr. Liechtenstein will unfairly harm their ability to defend themselves and pose a potentially serious risk to the health of Ms. Morgan in particular,» follows from the petition, which RIA Novosti was able to read .The document states that the Russian and his wife were aware of the ongoing investigation against them several months before their arrest. So, lawyers reported that in November 2021, the Internet provider informed the couple about the subpoena he had received, where they wanted to receive records from Liechtenstein related to Liechtenstein a year ago from representatives of the company. In early January of this year, as follows from the petition, in Liechtenstein’s apartment conducted a search, as a result of which they seized from him and Morgan, including passports and a number of electronic devices. “However, even then they did not attempt to escape. Instead, Mr. Lichtenstein and Mrs. Morgan hired us as their advisers to contact the government on their behalf, and they also extended the contract for renting an apartment in New York for a period of one year” , — follows from the docs.
The court in the United States postponed the hearing in the case against the Russian businessman Klyushin. As an additional argument in favor of the release of their clients, lawyers also cite the fact that the couple planned to have a child and for this purpose froze several embryos in one of the New York hospitals. «The spouses never would have fled the country, risking losing the opportunity to have children — which they discussed this year, until their lives were disrupted by arrests in this case,» the documents say. $.6 billion in bitcoin linked to the 2016 Bitfinex cyber-hack. We are talking about Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan. According to a report by a special agent at the US Internal Revenue Service, published on the website of the Department of Justice, Liechtenstein has dual citizenship — Russian-American. According to the prosecution, they tried to «launder» more than 119 thousand stolen bitcoins. Hearings on the possible release of the Russian and his wife on bail in this case are scheduled for February 11. Meanwhile, the ruling of the District of Columbia court in the United States says that he has suspended the decision to release the Russian and his wife on bail. contact family due to US prison restrictions
