Singaporean National Pleads Guilty to RICO Conspiracy Over $245M Crypto Theft

A 22-year-old Singaporean national named Malone Lam has pleaded guilty to a RICO conspiracy charge related to an operation that stole and laundered more than $245 million in cryptocurrency.

The US Justice Department announced the plea, entered before US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, marking the first time federal prosecutors have applied racketeering law to a Bitcoin-related crime.

Court documents describe an enterprise formed through connections on online gaming platforms that operated from at least October 2023 through May 2025.

Prosecutors alleged members posed as Google support staff, then as Gemini support, and persuaded a victim to reset two-factor authentication and run screen-sharing software that exposed private keys. The proceeds moved through crypto mixers, exchanges, pass-through wallets, and virtual private networks.