Crypto’s Bonnie and Clyde had their (alleged) crime spree abruptly curtailed on Tuesday.
Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan and Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein were arrested for conspiring to launder Bitcoin that’s now worth $4.5b billion
While Bonnie and Clyde’s rise and fall played out in the press, their crypto counterparts chronicled their lives on social media.
This is the love story of Dutch and Razzlekhan , the (alleged) crime couple who stole our hearts.
Chapter 1: Love at first sight
The couple hasn’t revealed how they first met, but they clearly had lots in common. Both share similar interests — and an astonishing range of skills.
Razzlekhan is a self-styled economist, serial entrepreneur, Forbes writer, and SaaS investor. She also moonlights as “a surrealist artist, rapper, and fashion designer.”
Dutch, meanwhile, describes himself as a tech entrepreneur, explorer, and “occasional magician.”
He clearly cast a spell on Razzle, who revealed her own seduction techniques in the moving love song, Moon n Stars :
Chapter 2: Wining and Dining
In their early days of courtship, Razzle played hard to get.
But she eventually succumbed to Dutch’s charms. They grew closer over a mutual love of pancakes.
Chapter 3: Domestic bliss
Before long, the young lovers had moved in together. According to The New York Times , they rented a $1 million condo in a luxury Manhattan building.
The couple appeared to have the perfect relationship.
However, their life wasn’t always a bed of roses. Like every strong couple, they survived some relationship tests.
Chapter 4: Starting a family
The duo wasn’t alone for long. The lovebirds soon welcomed a new family member to their nest: a cat called Clarissa. Naturally, the Bengal has its own Instagram account .
The young family shared everything: their home, their hearts — and their cat food.
Chapter 5: Going into business
The budding tycoons decided to mix business and pleasure. When Razzle became CEO of SalesFolk, Dutch joined the email marketing firm as an advisor.
On August 1, 2016, Razz thanked her partner for inspiring her to be a better entrepreneur. She also “joked” that she loved getting in trouble with him.
A day later, an enormous cache of Bitcoin was stolen from the Bitfinex crypto exchange .
Chapter 6: The proposal
Dutch soon popped the question — and Razzlekhan said yes!
The intricate proposal involved covering NYC with posters of Razz and splashing her face across a Times Square billboard.
Dutch called it “a weird, creative multi-channel marketing campaign” that “captured the essence of Razzlekhan: surreal, mysterious, creepy, and sexy.”
Chapter 7: The Wedding
The wedding plans were soon underway. Razzlekhan promised the “ WEIRDE$T, FUNNEST & MOST CREATIVE NON-TRADITIONAL WEDDING EVER!”
It was all that — and more.
Chapter 8: Giving back to the community
The newlyweds were keen to share their love — and wisdom — with the world. The tech entrepreneur was also a Forbes contributor.
In an article for Forbes , Razzlekhan gave tips on protecting a business from cybercriminals.
She also gave a talk, titled: “How to Social Engineer Your Way Into Anything.”
Dutch was also keen to contribute. In a Twitter post , he criticized an article for including “almost nothing about how to secure your keys [to access Bitcoin].”
Unfortunately, he seems to have had issues securing his own keys from federal officials.
Dutch allegedly kept his on a cloud storage account based in the US. A rookie error, some might say, but it’s hard to think straight when you’re head over heels.
Epilogue: True love never dies
The (alleged) crime spree may have come to an end, but this love story will never die. At least, not until Dutch and Razzlekhan shut down their social media accounts.
Until that happens, there’s still hope that crypto love conquers all.
Sprint stocks up 75% after judge approves $26.5 billion T-Mobile merger
An anticipated $26.5 billion merger between telecommunications powerhouse T-Mobile and the failing Sprint has triggered markets into overdrive, with Sprint’s stock price surging 75% as markets opened Tuesday.
Both The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported that a federal judge was to rule in favor of the merger today, which would see T-Mobile‘s subscriber count swell to more than 140 million to become the second largest mobile carrier in the US.
This has now been confirmed by a CNN report published this morning.
Despite federal regulators having already approved the deal, formally announced on Twitter in April 2018, a lawsuit pushed by the Attorney Generals of 13 states (as well as the District of Columbia) has kept the plans in limbo.
T-Mobile required to create new competitor, antitrust experts not sold
Lawyers blocking the deal labeled it “ presumptively anti-competitive ,” and claim it would stifle innovation, reduce competition, and inevitably lead to higher prices for consumers.
The companies however say that Sprint’s service has deteriorated, and it doesn’t have the resources required to rollout an effective 5G network across the US.
Combining the networks would see Sprint’s customers provided better service, they claim, and eventually alternatives like Dish, which Sprint owns, would trigger renewed competition in the market.
In fact, when the Department of Justice originally approved the deal, they stipulated T-Mobile must run a Dish-branded wireless service for seven years.
The idea is for T-Mobile to prop Dish‘s service up enough for it to eventually compete with the rest of the industry heavyweights. If the endeavour fails, T-Mobile would have to pay a $2.2 billion fine.
Stock traders reacted heavily to the news of a positive decision. On Monday, Sprint‘s stock closed at $4.80, down 0.13%, but prices for after-hours quotes soared by 68% to hit $8.09.
At pixel time, Tuesday trade has just opened, with bulls taking charge to pump Sprint‘s price past $8.30, currently up a butt-busting 74%. T-Mobile‘s stock has also benefitted, up 10%.
This means that both companies have already began to benefit from the deal. But what it means for you, the consumer is still unclear, save for the promise of better 5G service.
And unfortunately, the full story about a truly competitive market for wireless carriers in the US might not come out for years from now.
Facebook and ByteDance investor General Atlantic pumps $870 million into Reliance Jio
India’s Reliance Jio has scored its fourth investment in four weeks. US-based firm General Atlantic has invested ₹6,598.38 cores ($870 million) in Jio Platforms in exchange for a 1.34% stake.
In the past month, Facebook , Silver Lake , and Vista group have invested more than $8 billion in Jio, picking up 9.9%, 1%, and 2.32% stakes respectively. The new investment values Jio Platforms at $65 billion.
Jio Platforms consists of the company’s carrier services with more than 388 million subscribers in India, and JioFiber, its broadband solution. Plus, it offers a bunch of other services including the music streaming app JioSaavn, entertainment apps JioCinema and JioTV, ecommerce site JioMart, which recently partnered with WhatsApp to connect grocery shops to consumers in their area .
Despite striking these mega-deals, Jio Platforms might be looking for more investments. According to a report by Bloomberg , Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund is also looking to invest in India’s top carrier.
