In what the Department of Justice is calling 'the largest financial seizure ever', the U.S. seized about $3.6 billion in Bitcoin stolen during a 2016 hack of the Bitfinex currency exchange.

In what the Department of Justice is calling 'the largest financial seizure ever', the U.S. seized about $3.6 billion in Bitcoin stolen during a 2016 hack of the Bitfinex currency exchange.

Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife, Heather Morgan, were arrested in Manhattan on Tuesday morning and face federal charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

"Today's arrests, and the Department's largest financial seizure ever, show that cryptocurrency is not a safe haven for criminals," Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement.

"In a futile effort to maintain digital anonymity, the defendants laundered stolen funds through a labyrinth of cryptocurrency transactions."