Off-topic, but jaw-dropping: The biggest news of the day is The United States Department Of Justice announcing the arrest of Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and his wife, Heather Morgan, 31, of New York for allegedly conspiring to launder $4.5 billion in stolen cryptocurrency.
“In a futile effort to maintain digital anonymity, the defendants laundered stolen funds through a labyrinth of cryptocurrency transactions,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. “Thanks to the meticulous work of law enforcement, the department once again showed how it can and will follow the money, no matter what form it takes.”
The duo are accused of conspiring to launder cryptocurrency that was stolen during the 2016 hack of Bitfinex. Law enforcement officials have seized over $3.6 billion in cryptocurrency linked to that hack. According to court documents, Lichtenstein and Morgan allegedly conspired to launder the proceeds of 119,754 bitcoin that were stolen from Bitfinex’s platform after a hacker breached Bitfinex’s systems and initiated more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions.
What make the story truly bizarre though, is that the accused Heather Morgan is also music producer and ‘infamous Crocodile of Wall Street’, Razzlekhan.
Razzlekhan Is Like Genghis Khan, But With More Pizzazz
According to her site, Razzlekhan’s style “has often been described as ‘sexy horror comedy,’ because of her fondness for combining dark and disturbing concepts with dirty jokes and gestures.”
Here Soundcloud page features the sexy horror comedy tracks Gilfalicious, which is sort of Fergie’s M.I.L.F. Money taken to a new level; and Pho King Badd Bhech, which features the memorable couplet “I’m a mother Pho King Badd Bhech. Go on, make me a samm-mitch.”
But Morgan’s most important Razzlekhan track is probably The Versace Bedoin, which she says “represents who I am”:
“I’m many things
A rapper, an economist, a journalist
A writer, a CEO
And a dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty, ho”
While some of these claims can’t be easily be independently verified, Morgan is a former contributor to Forbes magazine. And Morgan’s Linked In profile states that she is Chief Executive Officer at SalesFolk, which helps “B2B sales teams create highly personalized email templates at scale”.
As to her rap skills, Rolling Stone notes that “all of Morgan’s videos suggest that she has no understanding of flow whatsoever”, adding “To call any of this music is a bit absurd.”
Menace To Society
While some may argue that Morgan’s real crime was against rap music, ‘sexy horror comedy’ doesn’t come with federal charges yet.
The USDOJ criminal complaint alleges that Lichtenstein and Morgan employed numerous sophisticated laundering techniques, including:
- Using fictitious identities to set up online accounts;
- Utilizing computer programs to automate transactions,
- A laundering technique that allows for many transactions to take place in a short period of time;
- Depositing the stolen funds into accounts at a variety of virtual currency exchanges and darknet markets and then withdrawing the funds, which obfuscates the trail of the transaction history by breaking up the fund flow;
- Converting bitcoin to other forms of virtual currency, including anonymity-enhanced virtual currency (AEC), in a practice known as “chain hopping”; and
- Using U.S.-based business accounts to legitimize their banking activity.
“In a methodical and calculated scheme, the defendants allegedly laundered and disguised their vast fortune,” said Chief Jim Lee of IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). “IRS-CI Cyber Crimes Unit special agents have once again unraveled a sophisticated laundering technique, enabling them to trace, access and seize the stolen funds, which has amounted to the largest cryptocurrency seizure to date, valued at more than $3.6 billion.”
Lichtenstein and Morgan are charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and conspiracy to defraud the United States, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
So is she releasing a new synth or something?
Yeah, this really has no place being on Synthtopia!
I loved that, cool story thx man
Yeah, some freshness and a bit offtopic which shines light to the dark corners of music-related things.
SHE GOT A BAD RAP
“And a dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty, ho”
While some of these claims can’t be easily be independently verified”
lolllllllll
The only flow she has comes every 28 days.
lame.
The most interesting aspect of the story for me is not The Razzlekhan angle but the dilemma of unlocking billions in illicit bitcoin, a “Million Pound Bank Note” scenario where the stolen bitcoin is worthless because it can’t be declared as an asset to build wealth and it can’t be exchanged for clean currency.
Off-topic: yes
Worthy of appearing here: sorry, but no.
I can let this one slide, but I’m keeping an eye on this site. If this behavior continues, the bookmark goes!
it might be one thing if she had a shitty synthwave project , but…
Autsch … is it a copy of?
Die Römischen Votzen – Frigido
thems to me the orginal.
Rhythmically inept at an impressive level, but that’s not to say that any of the other elements are proficient.
She probably has a better idea of where she’s headed now than when she wrote her rap. Seems like a courtroom and maybe jail are likely (and I’d love for her to produce a soundtrack/raps/comments for the next exciting chapters).
Less of this bullshit, please.
I appreciate the article.
Thanks!
Not seeing how this relates to the topic at hand. Does not need to be archived, merely deleted.
What? The real and only crime is this being posted to this website! I know it states off-topic, but what does this have to do with anything even remotely close to what is normally posted here. The only 2 possible connections – and they are a stretch – is it is about some scandal of a music producer and links to this artists tracks. I am good with links to performances and whatnot when they have something to do with at least an instrument or something normally discussed here, but this is about as relevant as a link to some music tracks about some scandal in Germany or something…
I personally found this post amusing and perplexing at the same time. I guess everyone else is very fun at parties.
“Gentlemen, you can’t have music in here! This is a synth blog!”
Is this announcing a new trend of “news” at Synthopia ? I’d like to know, because if it is I’m gonna have to remove that rss feed.
no
I can only assume that she hacked your account, too, or this drivel would never have appeared on your otherwise sterling web page. Clearly, hacking is her only talent.
To end this with a rap: Just another dumb bitch thinking a quick fix would make her rich.
– Don’t quit your day job, girl – ;P
I normally look forward to visiting Synthtopia to read the latest Synth news, but am disappointed in seeing this posted instead. Why are you attempting to drive more traffic to this person’s YouTube channel?
exactly, we need to stop making stupid people famous!
Famous stupid people make us all feel smarter.
What a grand waste of time and effort for synthtopia to post this.
Got a few laughs on the comments though!
Funny, I once commented on this site about pharmacutical companies money laundering billions of dollars of public money by selling us a toxic vaccine, and it was deleted as ‘missinformation’. Perhaps the clowns of this site should do the same with their own articles.
because that crosses the line from simple boobery into active harm. i’m glad science is still a thing here
I got appendicitis from it and it didn’t kill me after 6 days in the hospital, what is your problem? Maybe shot number two will do the trick with a heart attack.
Who would not sacrifice themselves for the greater good, I know I did . . . or else I would be unemployed.
I don’t see anything wrong with the post, it is synth adjacent and amusing
I’m very disappointed with the levels of disappointment in the comments here. If this level of discourse continues in the comments I may have to rethink coming here.
You have to remember that the world (or this site) owes you nothing and you and your opinions are not special. Time to put on your big-boy pants and look at some things outside your narrow field of vision. It almost seems like there could be some crypto-bro vibes coming through.
No one said anything about being owed. Get off the soapbox please. Your opinion is also not special. You can freely choose to stay or leave as well. This article is plainly and simply not relevant at a site like this. People are upset because they actually care about Synthtopia and the years of high-quality content that they have prided themselves on. They have built up a reputation. Seeing that slip is why people care, not about the content of the “news” article or the artist or the criminals or whatever the irrelevent topic of the post was about. Crytpo, criminals, etc. are not relevent to this community in and of itself. Sure, they exist, but so does bread, motorcycles and piercings. All of which are probably enjoyed by many musicians but discussion of them here has little relevance. That is the point, sir. Synthtopia needs to be aware of how their users feel on either side of the topic. I, and others, posted our comments because we care about this site and the quality of the content – plain and simple.
PS: The NFT ads along the sides are really timely.
She’s straight up rappin’ ’bout these Streets….. Wall streets…. 😉
4.5 Billion Dollars, and no autotune ?
The video is enough to justify some hard time
One more vote in favor of this kind of post. And I add my compliments to the authors.
this affordable beast is built like a tank … but can she do PWM?
Unless it were to show up in Boing Boing or The Guardian, I probably would have missed this mildly interesting piece. Not Morgan, the article. Thanks.
I am reminded of Joe Lajoie, except with higher production values.
Wow some real RACISM!
NOT FUNNY AND BORING AS FFFK!