Frozen embryos will keep accused $4.5 billion bitcoin money launderers from fleeing U.S., lawyer says in bail bid
Summary
A lawyer for the New York couple accused of an "extraordinarily complex" scheme to launder $4.5 billion in stolen bitcoin argues in a court filing that they are not a flight risk because, among other things, they want to stay near their frozen embryos. Morgan and her husband, Ilya "Dutch" Lichtenstein, "previously froze several of her embryos at a hospital in New York in anticipation of starting a family together, as she can only conceive through in vitro fertilization because she suffers from endometriosis," lawyer Samson Enzer wrote in the filing. "The couple would never flee from the country at the risk of losing access to their ability to have children, which they were discussing having this year until their lives were disrupted by their arrests in this case," Enzer wrote. The attorney also argued that Morgan, an aspiring rapper under the name Razzlekahn, and Lichtenstein, who holds dual U.S. and Russian citizenship, are not a flight risk given the fact that they "both stayed put in their residence in lower Manhattan ... even after the Governments investigation targeting them in this case" several months ago. But Enzer in his filing to Howell said, "Judge Freeman correctly decided that the Government has failed to meet its burden of showing that there are no bail conditions that would reasonably assure that Ms. Morgan and Mr. Lichtenstein will appear as required for further court proceedings in this case."