Ringleader of $245 Million Crypto Theft Pleads Guilty

A 22-year-old Singaporean man pleaded guilty on September 8, 2026, to leading an international cryptocurrency theft and money laundering enterprise that federal prosecutors say stole and laundered more than $245 million in digital assets. Malone Lam, a school dropout who later settled in Miami, admitted in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., to one count of participating in a racketeering conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Prosecutors said the enterprise operated from at least October 2023 through May 2025, using hacked or purchased databases to identify wealthy cryptocurrency holders and then deploying social engineering tactics to obtain their logins and private keys. In some instances, members broke into victims' homes to seize hardware wallets. In one case cited by the Justice Department, a codefendant broke into a New Mexico residence and stole a hardware wallet while Lam monitored the victim's movements through a hacked iCloud account.