Razzlekhan's Billion-Dollar Plea, ISIS's Crypto Crimes, and Conic Finance's $3.6M Hack

Hey there, crypto enthusiasts, Charlie here. Now let me tell you, things have been pretty damn spicy in the cryptoverse recently. For starters, the infamous duo "Razzlekhan" and her beau are staring down the barrel of a billion-dollar crypto catastrophe. Then we've got ISIS allies flexing their digital muscles, raking in millions in crypto and, to wrap it up, Conic Finance, the new kid on the DeFi block, just took a multimillion-dollar blow. Hold on to your digital hats, folks – we're diving headfirst into the chaos.

"Razzlekhan" and Hubby Say "Uncle" in Billion-Dollar Crypto Laundering Case

Helluva headline, right? So here's the scoop. Heather "Razzlekhan" Morgan and Ilya Lichtenstein, this New York power couple who've been in hot water over allegations of money laundering and defrauding Uncle Sam, have decided to play nice and enter a plea deal. Let's rewind a bit. These two were in the soup for allegedly laundering a shit-ton of funds from a 2016 hack of Bitfinex, one of the biggest crypto exchanges. Now, they're looking at giving up billions of dollars in bitcoin, ether, and other cryptos, along with some cold hard cash from their bank accounts. Not exactly the happy ending they were hoping for, eh?

It's been a wild ride, with this case being one of the most dramatic in crypto history (and that's saying something!). The real kicker? Nobody knows who actually hacked Bitfinex. Was it our dynamic duo? The feds aren't saying. What we do know is that they were sitting pretty on approximately 25,000 BTC and had access to another 94,000 BTC - all stolen goods from the Bitfinex heist. They've got a date with Lady Justice on August 3, and it'll be interesting to see how this all plays out. Until then, keep your cryptos safe and your noses clean, folks. (Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-couple-accused-laundering-crypto-bitfinex-hack-reach-plea-deal-2023-07-21/)

Crypto, the Bad Boy's Best Buddy: ISIS Allies Rake in Millions Using Cryptocurrency

Oh boy, here's a wild one for ya. According to our pals at TRM Labs, it seems like the bad guys are getting craftier. Apparently, pro-ISIS groups in Tajikistan have been busy little bees, raising around $2 million in Tron-based USDT during 2022. They've been using this digital dough to recruit fighters for ISIS's affiliate in Afghanistan, The Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP). This ain't good, folks.

But thank god for blockchain and its traceability? The folks at TRM Labs were able to follow the money, and the centralized exchange that these groups used to cash out their funds got wind of it. The result? One senior ISIS fundraiser by the name of Shamil Hukumatov got his ass nabbed in Turkey on June 22.

But that's not all. Another pro-ISIS group, this one in Indonesia, managed to raise over half a mil for a campaign to free ISIS members in Syrian internment camps. These guys clearly have no chill. And don't get me started on the ISIS affiliates in Pakistan who raised $40k by pretending to help earthquake victims. Low blow, guys, low blow. (Read more: https://beincrypto.com/isis-crypto-fundraising-trm-labs/)

DeFi Protocol Conic Finance Takes a $3.6M Hit, Loses 1,700 Ether in a Hack Attack

In the latest episode of "Crypto World Turns", DeFi protocol Conic Finance had a shitty start to the weekend, getting hacked for over 1,700 Ether, which translates to a whopping $3.6 million. The culprit? Something called "read-only reentrancy", a common bug that lets the bad guys trick a smart contract and repeatedly call a protocol to steal assets.

Conic Finance, which only came alive a few months ago, has a new product called Omnipools. These are basically pools where users can dunk their tokens for diversification and increased rewards. Seems like a pretty sweet deal, right? Well, apparently not for the Ether Omnipool, which was the unlucky victim of this hack.

The devs have since disabled deposits on the front end and are now playing Sherlock to figure out what went wrong. So, if you're thinking of dipping your toes into the DeFi pool, maybe check if there are any sharks around first. (Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/news/defi-protocol-conic-finance-hacked-140454480.html)