Alleged cryptoscam ringleader set for plea hearing in $240M bitcoin theft | Latest Tech News
A 22-year-old Singapore man accused of serving to steal more than $240 million in Bitcoin from a single sufferer and splurging the proceeds on luxurious vehicles, non-public jets, mansions and wild nights out is predicted to plead guilty this week in one of the biggest cryptocurrency thefts in U.S. historical past.
Malone Lam, an eighth-grade dropout from Singapore whom prosecutors have recognized as a suspected ringleader of the sprawling cryptocurrency scheme, is scheduled for a plea settlement hearing Tuesday in federal court in Washington, D.C.
Lam and his alleged co-conspirators have been half of an alleged community of younger males in their late teenagers and early 20s who prosecutors say used a refined “social engineering” assault in August 2024 to trick a rich, longtime cryptocurrency investor into handing over access to his digital holdings.
According to prosecutors, members of the group contacted the sufferer while posing as representatives of Google and the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange, warning him that his accounts had been compromised.
The scammers allegedly satisfied the sufferer to give them access to his Google Drive and present security codes that allowed Lam and others to siphon off more than 4,100 Bitcoin, then value over $240 million.
The group allegedly moved the stolen cryptocurrency through a number of exchange platforms and used money laundering specialists to convert parts of it into money.
A Justice Department court submitting in the case against Hamza Doost and Kunal Mehta, which incorporates a photograph of Malone Lam, is photographed Friday, Sept. 4, 2026. AP Photo/Jon Elswick
Prosecutors say Lam and his associates then embarked on a staggering spending spree.
Lam and his associates allegedly spent $4 million at Los Angeles nightclubs in roughly a month, including more than $569,000 that Lam allegedly spent during a single evening out. He also allegedly used stolen cryptocurrency to buy a $2 million watch and more than 30 automobiles, including customized Porsches, Lamborghinis and Ferraris.
Lam and his crew allegedly used a “social engineering” rip-off in 2024 to trick a crypto investor, then blew the stolen money on non-public jets and luxurious vehicles. paisan1leo – stock.adobe.com
The group also rented multimillion-dollar properties, flew on non-public jets and employed non-public security.
The alleged spending was so lavish that the decide overseeing Lam’s initial court look in Miami invoked a well-known Hollywood troublemaker after hearing a prosecutor describe it.
“I could only think of Ferris Bueller gone bad,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Alicia Valle said, referring to the school-skipping protagonist of the 1986 film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
His wild spending, like $4M at LA nightclubs and a $2M watch, shortly drew investigators’ consideration, main to his Miami arrest.
The lavish lifestyle shortly attracted consideration as investigators closed in.
One alleged co-conspirator, Jeandiel Serrano, failed to conceal his IP handle while creating an account on a cryptocurrency exchange that held almost $30 million in stolen funds, prosecutors said. Investigators traced the handle to an Encino, California, home Serrano was renting for $47,500 per month.
Serrano and Lam have been arrested individually on Sept. 18, 2024. FBI brokers took Serrano into custody at Los Angeles International Airport, where authorities said he was carrying a watch value roughly $500,000.
A Justice Department grand jury superseding indictment against Malone Lam and his co-defendants is photographed Friday, September 4, 2026. AP Photo/Jon Elswick
Lam was arrested the same day at a Miami mansion.
Eighteen defendants have been charged in connection with the case, with ten already pleading guilty.
At Lam’s initial court look, a prosecutor estimated that federal sentencing tips may call for a prison time period of at least 14 years if he’s convicted.
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