Singapore Man Pleads Guilty to $240M Bitcoin Theft
A 22-year-old man from Singapore has pleaded guilty to orchestrating one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in U.S. history, stealing nearly a quarter-billion dollars in Bitcoin from a Washington D.C. resident.
The man, Malone Lam, faces up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to a federal racketeering conspiracy charge for his role in a string of crypto scams starting in 2023.
Lam was part of a network of young men who used 'social engineering' techniques to dupe the Washington man into giving them access to his Google Drive and revealing security codes that allowed Lam to siphon off over 4,100 Bitcoin worth $245 million in August 2024.
Lam then laundered the stolen cryptocurrency into cash, which he used to fund a lavish spending spree. He bought sports cars, rented mansions in Miami, and spent millions at nightclubs, including $569,000 in one evening at an Los Angeles club.