Kriti Mehrotra
As a Chris Smith directorial documentary delving deep into arguably the most significant and valuable Bitcoin thefts in history, Netflix’s ‘Biggest Heist Ever’ can only be described as intriguing. That’s because it incorporates not just archival documents but also exclusive interviews to really underscore the tale as well as the theories surrounding the couple who changed the game of finance. Heather Morgan and Ilya Lichtenstein’s offenses have actually earned them the title of Bitcoin Bonnie and Clyde, yet the former had long already established an alter ego called Razzlekhan.
Heather Morgan Always Wanted to Stand Out From the Crowd
Although Heather admittedly hails from a household that wasn’t too financially comfortable in the small town of Chico, California, she never let it hinder her abilities, ambitions, or aspirations. In fact, as per reports, she made sure to enroll at Pleasant Valley High School as soon as possible to take advantage of the many Advanced Placement (AP) courses they offered so as to move forward. That’s what helped her land a spot at the University of California-Davis, where she pursued a dual Bachelor’s in International Relations as well as Economics owing to her interest in the same.
However, by this point, Heather’s familial situation had seemingly turned around — some of her college friends have since even referred to her as a “worldly citizen” with a wealth of knowledge. The fact she spoke six languages — Arabic, Cantonese, English, Japanese, Korean, and Turkish — only fueled this further, along with her extensive understanding of events in Asia and the Middle East. This inadvertently resulted in her having a significant social circle, too, which was drastically different from anything she had experienced growing up owing to her self-proclaimed awkwardness.
According to the aforementioned film, Heather was bullied, lonely, and misunderstood as a child, reportedly owing to her keen interest in education and her style, yet she took it with her head held high. Nevertheless, it did spark a desire in her to stand out, only for it to lead her to rap as well as her alter ego, Razzlekhan — she created the latter as stress relief years before she went public with it. She actually used to try to spit bars in college, per a friend, but it wasn’t until much later that she turned it into a brand to fulfill her dreams of becoming famous and began leading a public life.
Heather Morgan is a Former Silicon Valley Entrepreneur, Writer, and Rapper
It was in 2011 when Heather graduated from the University of California-Davis, just to then relocate to China and work at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to spread awareness about American culture. She then found herself in Cairo, Egypt, to earn a Master’s in International Economics, all the while fully embracing her freedom and inner passions by opening herself to the party scenes. However, in 2013, she suddenly decided to drop everything and announced she would be returning to her home state because she “wasn’t making any money in Europe,” as per Forbes.
Therefore, Heather returned home without ever earning her Master’s degree, despite claiming on LinkedIn that she did, and almost immediately began networking in Silicon Valley. It was here that she got the attention of a mentor at the 500 Startups accelerator program, to whom she pitched the idea of launching a gaming company called Tamatem and succeeded. She called herself an economist and had a blog to back her claims, yet, except for her economic degree, she has no qualifications to refer to herself as an economist. Nevertheless, her intellect was such that she did succeed in impressing many with her idea before suddenly disappearing.
By the time a 500 Startups conference in New York came to an end in July 2013, Heather had actually moved to Brazil and tied the knot with another mentor and entrepreneur, Bruno De Souza. According to Bruno, he did have an “intense relationship” with the Californian native, yet their marriage was primarily to ensure she could secure a Brazillian visa so as to stay and help in his startup. Yet, their relationship soon fell apart, only for her to quickly return to the Bay Area and begin dating Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein within mere months.
It was around this time that Heather also established a marketing company by the name of Salesfolk, all the while Ilya was dedicated to his own startup called MixRank. However, by late 2016, the couple had quietly moved to New York for good. This was where the former Forbes contributing writer later decided to embrace her alter ego in full, too, explaining on her blog that Razzlekhan is meant to be a bit over the top. Little did anyone know this would lead her to evolve into a public figure of sorts, especially as she never hesitated to share the life she was building with Ilya on her social media platforms – she posted thousands of videos.
Heather Morgan and Ilya Lichtenstein Were Responsible For the 2016 Bitfinex Hacking
It was on August 2, 2016, when the renowned cryptocurrency exchange company Bitfinex was hacked, losing Bitcoin worth $72 million. This was already a significant number, but owing to the crypto boom that happened within the ensuing few years, the value of these bitcoins actually skyrocketed and was worth $4.5 billion by the time 2022 rolled around. This almost made it impossible for the hackers to move the money around so as to actually utilize it, but they did try their best. That’s what ultimately led the FBI straight to Heather and Ilya. Their house was raided in connection to this in January 2022, and they were arrested in February.
While Ilya remained detained owing to his Russian passport and connections in Russia, Heather was released pending court proceedings. However, it’s imperative to note they had already tied the knot by this point. It then came to light that the evidence recovered from their home was straight out of a spy novel, especially with them having a bag of burner phones, hollowed-out books, a suspicious trip to Ukraine, and much more. Yet, no one ever expected that some other pieces of evidence would then be classified under the highest level owing to national security concerns, making the case go from weird to bizarre.
We say weird because Heather never once backed away from the limelight, and she had even told her friends from the get-go that Ilya was a “black-hat hacker,” according to Forbes. Nevertheless, the latter has since taken most of the responsibility for the Bitfinex hack, claiming he alone was responsible for it. His then-girlfriend did get involved after finding out about the hack later on, he said, but only in the money laundering process. As per court records, he has since even pointed the FBI to most of the $1 billion they weren’t able to recover during the raid.
Heather Morgan Has Been Sentenced For Her Offense
It was on August 3, 2023, that Heather and Morgan both pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, for which the former was sentenced to 18 months in prison plus three years of supervised release on November 18, 2024. However, she has not yet been taken into custody for her prison term to begin, so she continues to reside in New York with Clarissa, the Bengal she and Ilya once shared. It’s also imperative to note that although she stopped posting online in late 2022 owing to legal reasons, she resumed following her sentencing and remains a self-proclaimed surrealist rapper with synesthesia and fashion designer.
My statement 🧞♀️#razzlekhan pic.twitter.com/janr9RD1Q2
— Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan (@HeatherReyhan) November 18, 2024
As if that’s not enough, we should also mention that between 2022 and 2024, Heather had taken up opportunities for remote jobs involving copywriting, marketing, and sales. Furthermore, she was often even seen at cryptocurrency conventions such as Bitcoin Conference 2024, where she essentially portrayed herself as an expert. Nevertheless, per the US Department of Justice, the fact remains that she and Ilya “employed numerous sophisticated laundering techniques” to fund their extravagant lifestyle at the expense of some early Bitcoin investors. So, she will soon be required to turn herself in to serve her sentence in full.
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