A 22-year-old man pleaded guilty Tuesday for leading an international social engineering operation that stole and laundered more than $245 million in cryptocurrency, primarily Bitcoin, according to federal prosecutors.
Malone Lam, a Singapore citizen living in Miami, pleaded guilty to one count of federal racketeering conspiracy in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Prosecutors say Lam, who used aliases including “Anne Hathaway,” “$$$” and “King Greavy,” organized the scheme, identified victims, and coordinated roles among co-conspirators.
The case centers on more than 4,100 BTC taken from a Washington investor. On August 18, 2024, the investor received two calls: one caller claimed to represent Google, and another posed as a Gemini exchange employee warning about malware affecting the victim’s cryptocurrency wallet. Using those impersonation calls, the group obtained account access and security codes, then drained the Bitcoin.
Court filings describe an extravagant spending spree funded by the stolen crypto: about $569,000 at one nightclub, a $2 million watch, luxury handbags, rental homes in Los Angeles, the Hamptons and Miami, and more than 30 vehicles valued from $100,000 to $3.8 million. Some nightclub services reached close to $500,000 per evening.
“If you build a cybercrime empire, we will find you, dismantle your operation, and hold you accountable,” said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro in a statement.
Co-defendant Jeandiel Serrano was charged alongside Lam in 2024. Another defendant, Evan Tangeman, 22, was sentenced in April to more than five years in prison. Lam faces up to 20 years in prison, with a status hearing scheduled for December 8.
