--- title: "Lawyer for Crypto Laundering Rapper Says She Won’t Flee Because of Her Frozen Embryos" description: "The rapping CEO who got arrested for alleged crypto laundering isn't a flight risk because, her lawyer says, she wants to stay close to her frozen eggs." date: "2022-02-11" modified: "2022-02-11" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/crypto-rapper-frozen-eggs" categories: - "Bitcoin" - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Future Society" tags: - "bitcoin" - "cryptocurrency" - "the blockchain" --- # Lawyer for Crypto Laundering Rapper Says She Won’t Flee Because of Her Frozen Embryos ![The rapping CEO who got arrested for alleged crypto laundering isn't a flight risk because, her lawyer says, she wants to stay close to her frozen eggs.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* Good news: the rapping CEO who got arrested for an alleged crypto laundering scheme this week isn't a flight risk because — get this — she wants to stay close to her frozen eggs. As [*CNBC* reports](), filings made on behalf of Heather "Razzlekhan" Morgan and her husband Ilya Lichtenstein following the couple's arrest on federal money laundering charges claim that the spouses aren't likely to flee because they intend to use the frozen embryos to start a family soon. "The couple would never flee from the country at the risk of losing access to their ability to have children," lawyer Samson Enzer wrote in the filing, "which they were discussing having this year until their lives were disrupted by their arrests in this case." Enzer also intimated that the couple was aware of the federal government's investigation when he claimed that Lichtenstein and Morgan "both stayed put in their residence in lower Manhattan" after learning in November 2021 via their internet service provider that a grand jury subpoena had been served a year prior for records on them. https://twitter.com/fintwit_news/status/1491112682283745280 Aside from revealing some of this salacious detail about the couple's use of reproductive technology, the *CNBC* report also notes more of the circumstances surrounding the case, including that the $3.6 billion in stolen Bitcoin seized by the feds is now the largest single financial seizure the Justice Department has ever made. Another astonishing detail: that the 120,000 bitcoins stolen in the 2016 hack were worth just $71 million at the time, but ballooned to more than $4.5 billion by January 2022. That stolen Bitcoin, [taken during the 2016 Bitfinex heist](), was [transferred to a crypto wallet]() at the time of the hack that, by 2022, Lichtenstein was in control of, [federal prosecutors claim](). Ahead of the couple's scheduled court appearance in Washington, DC, prosecutors urged the district court judge presiding over the case to jail them without bail because Lichtenstein and Morgan are allegedly, according to filings, "sophisticated cyber criminals and money launderers who present a serious risk of flight and should be detained pending trial." Their lawyer pushed back against the denied bail request, saying in counter-filings reviewed by *CNBC* that, in essence, the government's arguments against the couple are based on the feds misunderstanding the blockchain — which, to his credit, is a pretty ballsy clapback. This case truly has everything: alleged money laundering, bad white girl rap, a wholesome love story, and, of course, the classic crypto bro claim that everyone just doesn't get it. **READ MORE:** [Frozen embryos will keep accused $4.5 billion bitcoin money launderers from fleeing U.S., lawyer says in bail bid]() \[*CNBC*\] **More on the meta-media aspect of the case:** *[The World's Biggest Crypto Exchange is Investing $200 Million in Forbes, a Site Where Anyone Can Shill Crypto]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()