Crypto scam ringleader who allegedly stole over $240-million in bitcoin set to appear in U.S. court — SkimNews
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- Malone Lam and two co-conspirators (Veer Chetal and Jeandiel Serrano) orchestrated a phone-based social engineering attack on Aug. 18, 2024, duping a Washington, D.C., crypto holder into surrendering security codes that let them siphon over 4,100 bitcoin worth US$240-million-plus, according to prosecutors.
- Lam allegedly spent US$569,000 in a single evening at a Los Angeles nightclub, more than US$4-million at nightclubs in one month, and purchased over 30 cars and a US$2-million watch before his arrest at a Miami mansion on Sept. 18, 2024.
- FBI investigators traced the ring after Serrano failed to hide his IP address on a crypto exchange account holding roughly US$30-million in stolen funds, linking it to an Encino, California, rental costing US$47,500 per month.
- Masked kidnappers from Miami stopped Chetal's parents in Danbury, Connecticut, beat his father with a baseball bat, and tried to extort Chetal for the stolen crypto, but the plot collapsed when witnesses flagged police.
- Crypto investment fraud complaints to the FBI rose nearly 50 per cent in 2025 while the Justice Department disbanded its dedicated crypto crime unit and Trump took in roughly US$1.2-billion from his own crypto businesses that year.
- U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has already sentenced three co-conspirators to prison terms of roughly six years and rejected one defense attorney's description of the defendants as mischievous "young kids," saying "Being young only goes so far."
Why it matters: Eighteen defendants have been charged and ten have already pleaded guilty in what prosecutors call one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in U.S. history, with Lam's case poised to set the sentencing benchmark. The heist unfolded alongside a 50 per cent jump in FBI crypto fraud complaints and the Trump administration's pullback from crypto enforcement, leaving cybersecurity researchers warning that without more resources, "it's going to spread more and more."
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