A gang that met through online gaming has confessed to carrying out one of the largest cryptocurrency heists in U.S. history. The scale of the losses and the subsequent entertainment of the attackers are already being compared to a movie script.
A gang that met through online gaming has confessed to carrying out one of the largest cryptocurrency heists in U.S. history. The scale of the losses and the subsequent entertainment of the attackers are already being compared to a movie script.
Malone Lam, 22, from Singapore, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and racketeering in a case involving the theft of $245 in bitcoins, Dexerto reports .
According to prosecutors, Lam recruited accomplices through popular gaming platforms. There was a clear division of labor in the gang: some sought out wealthy victims, others posed as Google support and the Gemini exchange. Thanks to this scheme, they tricked a Washington resident into handing over access codes to his crypto wallet, after which they wrote off millions of dollars, while money launderers spent months funneling the money through a tangled network of exchanges.
The stolen bitcoins became fuel for a life of luxury on both coasts of the United States.
The group rented mansions in Miami and the Hamptons, flew private jets, and spent over $569,000 in just one night at a Los Angeles nightclub.
The network, which was made up mostly of teenagers and young men, had a fleet of more than 30 supercars. At parties, they threw Hermes Birkin bags into the crowd and flaunted half a million dollar watches.
Lam changed aliases — from “Anne Hathaway” to “$$$” and “King Greavy” — until FBI agents raided his Miami estate in September 2024.
During the first hearing, federal judge Alicia Valle compared the organizer to a character from the 1986 cult film: "Listening to the evidence, all I could think about was Ferris Bueller, who had set foot on a criminal path."
The organizer now faces up to 20 years in prison, pending the official announcement of the verdict. Like Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon, who previously received 15 years in prison, another high-flying crypto fraudster has learned that a loud party always comes to an end.
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