Singapore Man Pleads Guilty to Stealing $240 Million Worth of Bitcoin
A Singaporean man has pleaded guilty to orchestrating one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in US history, stealing nearly $250 million worth of Bitcoin from a Washington D.C. resident.
The 22-year-old, Malone Lam, an eighth-grade dropout who came to the US from Singapore, faces up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to a federal racketeering conspiracy charge.
Lam was part of a network of young men who carried out a string of crypto scams starting in 2023. He is one of 18 defendants charged in the case and is the 11th to plead guilty, but his conviction marks a major breakthrough for the Justice Department's investigation.
In August 2024, Lam and others used 'social engineering' techniques to dupe the Washington man out of Bitcoin worth over $245 million. Two of Lam's alleged co-conspirators posed as representatives of Google and the Gemini crypto exchange to manipulate the man into giving them access to his Google Drive and revealing security codes that allowed Lam to siphon off over 4,100 Bitcoin.
Lam helped launder and covert stolen crypto into cash, which he used to buy a fleet of sports cars, rent mansions in Miami, and spend millions at night clubs, including $569,000 in one evening at an LA club.