Twelve new defendants, foreign nationals and US citizens, are now facing federal prosecution in a sprawling cybercrime investigation. Authorities accuse them of participating in a racketeering venture that stole over $263 million in crypto and laundered the money through complex methods.
Several individuals were arrested this past week in California, while authorities are still searching for two suspects believed to be hiding in Dubai.
The indictment details a vast conspiracy that ran from October 2023 through March 2025 in several U.S. states and foreign venues. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, Special Agent of the FBI Sean Ryan, and IRS Agent Kareem A. Carter together announced the new revelations.
The case builds on charges initially made in September of 2024, against Malone Lam, still a main player in the operation.
The group formed through relationships built on gaming platforms and evolved into an organized criminal enterprise. Each member had a special task, be it hacking, targeting, contact with victims, laundering, or housebreaking.
Luxury lifestyle funded by stolen Crypto
Organizers employed this information to identify affluent targets and assigned callers to pretend to be cybersecurity agents. Callers manipulated victims by threatening them with fictitious security risks for their cryptocurrency accounts and obtained unauthorized access.
Money launderers afterwards exchanged the pilfered electronic currency into U.S. currency by means of cash deposits and wire transfers, masking the fund origins.
Extravagant spending was the signature of the criminal crew, whose stolen cryptocurrency funded extravagant expenses. They spent up to $500,000 for one night’s worth of club goods and gave away handbags that cost thousands of dollars.
They stayed in expensive homes in Miami and Los Angeles, traveled on private jets, and drove luxury cars—some worth as much as $3.8 million.
In a single high-profile heist on August 18, 2024, Lam and cohorts allegedly swiped more than 4,100 Bitcoin, then worth $230 million, from a single individual. The crew also employed false IDs, shells, and even sent cash in stuffed animals by mail in an attempt to cover their tracks.
