The bitcoin money laundering scandal, which has made headlines in the national news recently, will be the subject of two projects from Entertainment One and Forbes Entertainment. The companies have teamed to produce a scripted series and a documentary about the scandal following the Feb. 8 arrest in Manhattan of so-called “crypto couple,” Heather Morgan and Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein, who are awaiting trial on charges alleging they tried to launder $3.6 billion in stolen bitcoin. The scripted project is co-produced by eOne, Forbes Entertainment and Tucker Tooley Entertainment, and the documentary hails from eOne’s Blackfin and Forbes Entertainment.
The projects are based on Forbes’ reporting on the couple, the publication’s expertise in wealth and financial journalism and their unique perspective of having a relationship with Morgan, who, from July 2017 was a ForbesWomen Contributor on Forbes.com until Forbes ended its relationship with her September 2021.
“The Crypto Couple’s story reads like a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde drama,” said Travis Collins, Director, Partnerships, Forbes Entertainment. “As the de-facto source of tracking wealth and publishing financial investigative journalism, Forbes can help bring this story to life in a way that few can do as authoritatively. Through this riveting narrative, we aim to help educate audiences about the cryptocurrency world, one that to many remains mysterious and ethereal.”
Production on the documentary project has already begun, including filming and extensive archival research into the story. Geno McDermott and Jordan Rosenblum are executive producers for Blackfin, an eOne company.
Tucker Tooley of Tucker Tooley Entertainment will executive produce the scripted project.
“With the combination of the elite reporting from Forbes and the incredible skills and passion of our producing partners, we feel uniquely situated to bring this story to life for global audiences,” said Michael Lombardo, eOne’s President of Global Television. “We look forward to telling this story across multiple formats together with Forbes.”
Blackfin is behind 2021’s Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre on History Channel and Netflix’s Tiny Creatures. Tulsa Burning earned three Primetime Emmy nominations, and Tiny Creatures received 2 Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Travel, Adventure and Daytime Program and Outstanding Cinematography. Blackfin’s previous hit series include Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez, investigative series Finding Escobar’s Millions for Discovery, Chasing Ghislaine, I am Homicide and Homicide City for ID, among others.
Recent credits for Tucker Tooley Entertainment include Concrete Cowboy for Netflix starring Idris Elba, The United States Vs. Billie Holiday for Hulu, which earned an Oscar nomination for lead actress Andra Day and was directed by Oscar nominee Lee Daniels. Its next film, Arthur the King, stars Mark Wahlberg and will be released in 2022.
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