Twenty-two-year-old Malone Lam admits leading a social-engineering scheme that stole more than 4,100 Bitcoin from a Washington, DC resident in one of the largest cryptocurrency heists in US history.
A 22-year-old Singaporean man has pleaded guilty in a US court to orchestrating the theft of more than $245 million worth of Bitcoin, one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts ever prosecuted in the United States.
Malone Lam, who also used aliases including “Anne Hathaway,” “$$$” and “King Greavy,” entered the guilty plea on Tuesday to a federal racketeering conspiracy charge in Washington, DC. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has not yet scheduled a sentencing hearing.
$245M Bitcoin Heist and Lavish Spending:
According to the US Department of Justice, Lam was the ringleader of a group of young men who met through online gaming platforms and carried out a series of cryptocurrency scams beginning no later than October 2023. The conspiracy continued at least until May 2025. Prosecutors say Lam identified targets and coordinated the roles of co-conspirators from California, Connecticut, New York, Florida and outside the United States.
The centrepiece of the case was the August 2024 theft of more than 4,100 Bitcoin from a Washington, DC resident. Two of Lam’s associates posed as representatives of Google and the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange. Through social-engineering tactics, they convinced the victim that his accounts had been compromised, then persuaded him to grant access to his Google Drive and reveal security codes. That access allowed the group to transfer the Bitcoin, then valued at more than $245 million.
Lam and his associates quickly laundered the proceeds and embarked on a lavish spending spree. Prosecutors say the group spent up to $500,000 or more in single visits to nightclubs, including one evening in Los Angeles that cost $569,000. They bought a fleet of exotic cars valued between $100,000 and $3.8 million, high-end watches worth up to $500,000, Hermes Birkin handbags that were thrown into crowds at parties, luxury clothing, private jet travel, rental mansions in Miami, Los Angeles and the Hamptons, and private security.
Crypto Theft Ringleader Pleads Guilty:
The spending lasted about a month before FBI agents arrested Lam in Miami. He is one of 18 defendants charged in the broader investigation and the 11th to plead guilty. Authorities have ordered restitution of more than $245 million to the victims.
The case highlights the growing sophistication of social-engineering attacks in the cryptocurrency sector, where criminals exploit trust rather than purely technical vulnerabilities. US officials described the scheme as a major breakthrough in efforts to disrupt organised crypto crime networks that operate across borders.
Lam, an eighth-grade dropout who moved from Singapore to the United States, now awaits sentencing. The guilty plea closes a key chapter in one of the most high-profile digital-asset thefts in recent years, while underscoring the challenges authorities face in recovering stolen cryptocurrency and deterring similar schemes.