Amazon MGM Studios to Produce 'Razzlekhan': A Bitcoin Laundering Tale
Summary:
Amazon MGM Studios is developing "Razzlekhan", a film centered around Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, who laundered billions of stolen Bitcoin from the 2016 Bitfinex hack. The film, inspired by a 2022 New York Times article, is set to provide a dramatic portrayal of the crypto world, a departure from the often documentary-focused approach to this subject matter.
News has emerged that Amazon MGM Studios is gearing up to create a film around the ostensibly fascinating narrative of a duo who laundered billions through Bitcoin emissions linked to Bitfinex’s 2016 hack. Deadline reported on Jan. 26 that Amazon's film division is setting things in motion for "Razzlekhan", a cinematic exploration of Ilya Lichtenstein’s and Heather Morgan’s part in funneling funds from Bitfinex. The screenplay is expected to draw its inspiration from a 2022 expose by the New York Times, which conveyed the duo as Bitcoin's version of the infamous Bonnie and Clyde.
Bitfinex fell prey to a calamitous hack in August 2016, which resulted in the theft of around 119,754 BTC. Lichtenstein and Morgan were found guilty of sanitizing over 94,643 BTC of the stolen funds via a sophisticated web of minor transactions over a motley of accounts and platforms, according to government prosecutors. The couple was taken into custody by US enforcers in February 2022, and their Bitcoin stash, then valued at an astronomical $3 billion, although worth just $54 million at the time of the heist, was confiscated.
As part of an agreement with the prosecutors, Lichetenstein capitulated to his involvement in conspiracy to launder money in August 2023, while Morgan acknowledged her part in the conspiracy to launder money and to bamboozle the United States. Their cinematic biopic is named after Morgan's alter ego, "Razzlekhan", a self-styled offbeat comic rapper.
Crypto-centered films have so far largely leaned towards engaging documentaries, making the Lichtenstein and Morgan movie a relatively rare dramatization of events in the crypto world. Following the downfall of FTX and the apprehension of its then-CEO, Sam "SBF" Bankman-Fried, rumors circulated of a tell-all documentary focusing on the association between SBF and Ex-Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao. Netflix joined the trend in 2022 with its introspective documentary focusing on the life and untimely demise of Gerald Cotten, the founder of QuadrigaCX, leading to customers being unable to access their significant crypto holdings.
Published At
1/29/2024 7:00:32 PM
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