Brooklyn Man Sentenced for Stealing $16 Million from Coinbase Customers
A Brooklyn court has sentenced a 23-year-old man to four to 12 years in prison for running a yearlong social engineering operation that drained nearly $16 million from Coinbase customers across the United States.
Ronald Spektor, who lived with his father in Brooklyn, admitted to posing as exchange support staff and contacting victims while claiming their accounts had been compromised by a hacker. He told them to move assets immediately into a new wallet for protection, allowing him to access and empty the wallets once they were under his control.
The stolen funds were then laundered through exchanges, mixing services, and cryptocurrency gambling platforms before being converted into cash, gift cards, or other digital assets. Investigators tied multiple stolen-fund wallets to Spektor's home internet connection using blockchain analysis, IP records, and material seized under search warrants.
The court ordered Spektor to forfeit over $500,000 in cash, cryptocurrency, and personal property, as well as pay restitution of nearly $16 million. The Brooklyn District Attorney's Office warned that investigators will pursue on-chain activity wherever it leads, and that Coinbase and similar firms do not call customers to demand they move crypto into a 'safe wallet'.