Trump arraignment pushes Crypto Couple plea hearings forward

Legal • August 3, 2023, 2:41AM EDT

Published 1 minute earlier on

Quick Take

Plea hearings for the Crypto Couple were moved forward after potential logistical issues surfaced regarding former President Donald Trump’s court appearance today.

Plea hearings for the pair accused of attempting to launder $4.5 billion in stolen bitcoins — known as the "Crypto Couple" — were reset due to potential logistical issues relating to former President Donald Trump's court appearance today.

CNBC reported that a federal judge in Washington, D.C. reset the times after lines began to form outside of E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse for Trump's arraignment.

Ilya "Dutch" Lichtenstein and Heather "Razzlekahn" Rhiannon Morgan were scheduled to appear today for separate plea hearings at 10:00 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET, respectively. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly moved the hearings to 9:30 a.m. ET and 11:00 a.m. "due to exigent circumstances."

Trump is expected to appear in person before Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya at 4:00 p.m. ET today.

Lichtenstein and Morgan were arrested in February 2022. The pair originally pleaded not guilty to charges in a criminal complaint regarding their alleged attempts to launder 119,754 bitcoins stolen from the 2016 Bitfinex hack, but are expected to plead guilty to the same criminal counts filed in a new charging document.

About Author

Adam is the managing editor for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He is based in central Europe and was a managing editor and podcast host at the crypto exchange OKX's former research arm, OKX Insights. Before that, he co-founded BeInCrypto.com, which he elevated into one of the leading crypto media brands at its peak as the editor-in-chief. Earlier, he served as the editor-in-chief at Bitcoinist.com. Before joining the blockchain and crypto industry, he worked for Looper.com, Grunge.com and SVG.com. He tweets via @XBT002 and can be emailed at [email protected].