Singaporean Man Pleads Guilty to $245M Crypto Heist
A 22-year-old Singaporean man, Malone Lam, has pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy in connection with one of America's largest cryptocurrency heists. The heist, which netted $245 million in Bitcoin, was carried out by a crew that recruited through online gaming platforms.
Lam and his accomplices used a variety of tactics to steal from their victims, including posing as Google and Gemini support staff to trick a Washington D.C. victim into handing over the codes guarding his crypto wallet.
The stolen funds were then laundered through a maze of exchanges before being spent on lavish items such as sports cars, private jets, and luxury real estate. Lam's own spending spree was particularly egregious, with prosecutors alleging that he dropped $569,000 in one night at a Los Angeles nightclub.