A Singaporean man has pleaded guilty in the United States to organising a cryptocurrency theft and money-laundering scheme that stole about $245m (£181m) in bitcoin.
Malone Lam, 22, admitted working with associates to deceive victims, obtain confidential information and drain their cryptocurrency wallets before laundering the proceeds.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) said Lam and his co-conspirators spent the stolen fortune on extravagant nightlife, exotic cars, luxury homes, private jets and designer goods.
Prosecutors said the group could spend as much as $500,000 in a single evening at nightclubs, while Lam acquired more than 30 luxury vehicles worth between $100,000 and $3.8m each.
US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said the case demonstrated the authorities’ determination to pursue large-scale cybercrime operations.
“If you build a cybercrime empire, we will find you, dismantle your operation, and hold you accountable,” Pirro said.
“This defendant led an international network that preyed on victims through deception, invaded their privacy, and stole hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency,” she added.
Lam pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has not yet scheduled his sentencing hearing.
According to court documents, the criminal conspiracy began no later than October 2023 and continued until at least May 2025.
The group brought together co-conspirators from California, Connecticut, New York, Florida and outside the US who met through online gaming platforms.
The DOJ described Lam, who also used the aliases Anne Hathaway, $$$ and King Greavy, as the ringleader who identified targets and coordinated the roles of other members of the network.
Investigators said the group used deception to obtain victims’ confidential information and, on some occasions, carried out home break-ins to obtain details needed to access and empty cryptocurrency wallets.
The proceeds were then used to fund an extravagant lifestyle.
The DOJ said the stolen cryptocurrency paid for Hermes Birkin handbags worth tens of thousands of dollars, which were reportedly thrown into nightclub crowds during parties.
The group also purchased high-end watches valued at up to $500,000, luxury clothing, rental properties in Los Angeles, the Hamptons and Miami, private jet travel and private security.
Lam became “notorious” in Los Angeles and Miami nightclub circles because of his flamboyant spending, a Florida district court previously heard.
His lifestyle was fuelled by the proceeds of a scheme that investigators eventually dismantled after FBI agents arrested Lam and a co-conspirator in September 2024.
At Lam’s first court appearance, US magistrate Alicia Valle compared the case to a notorious fictional schoolboy who skips school for an extravagant adventure.
“As I was listening to the evidence, I could only think of Ferris Bueller gone bad,” Valle said, referring to the 1986 film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
The judge highlighted the scale of Lam’s spending after the theft. “He spent this money wildly, going to Los Angeles nightclubs, purchasing more than 30 high-end luxury automobiles. I mean, that’s an incredible amount of spending and craziness that followed his coming into more than $230 million.”
Lam told US investigators that he had dropped out of secondary school in Singapore at the age of 14.
He travelled to the United States in October 2023 and remained in the country after his visa expired in January 2024.
One of his co-conspirators, Evan Tangeman, was sentenced to 70 months in prison in April for laundering proceeds from the scheme.
Tangeman also attempted to destroy evidence after Lam’s arrest, which prosecutors said demonstrated “consciousness of his guilt.”
Erizia Rubyjeana
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