A 22-year-old man has pleaded guilty to his role in one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in U.S. history, admitting to a massive scheme that earned him nearly a quarter-billion dollars in bitcoin from a Washington, D.C. resident.
Malone Lam, an eighth-grade dropout originally from Singapore, entered his plea to a federal racketeering conspiracy charge on Tuesday. He now faces up to 20 years in prison for his part in the heist, which prosecutors say was part of a broader string of scams carried out by a network of young men starting in 2023. Lam is the 11th of 18 defendants to plead guilty in the case.
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The August 2024 theft relied on “social engineering” tactics. Prosecutors allege that Lam’s co-conspirators posed as representatives from Google and the Gemini crypto exchange, tricking the victim into granting them access to his Google Drive and security codes. This allowed Lam to siphon off over 4,100 bitcoin, valued at more than $245 million at the time.
Following the theft, Lam embarked on a month-long, high-octane spending spree before his arrest in Miami. Authorities say he laundered the stolen crypto into cash to fund a lifestyle of excess, including renting luxury Miami mansions, buying a fleet of over 30 high-end vehicles—such as custom Porsches, Lamborghinis, and Ferraris—and dropping millions at nightclubs, including a single $569,000 tab in Los Angeles. He also reportedly purchased a $2 million watch.
The FBI eventually tracked Lam down, though the indictment reveals he had been tipped off about the impending arrest by an off-duty law enforcement officer.
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Even from jail, Lam seemed stunned by the scale of the operation. In a recorded call cited in the indictment, he told associates, “We always talked about what it would be like if I were to go down, but never thought it would be this crazy.”
When asked by the judge during his plea hearing if he could recall exactly which of the 30-plus vehicles he had personally purchased, Lam admitted, “I would need some time.” A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.