Man Pleads Guilty in Alleged $245 Million Bitcoin Theft Tied to Social‑Engineering Ring

Malone Lam, a 22-year-old Singapore citizen and recent Miami resident, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Washington to participating in a racketeering conspiracy tied to the theft of more than $245 million in bitcoin from a single victim, in a case prosecutors have cast as one of the largest single-victim cryptocurrency thefts charged in the United States.

The plea was entered Sept. 8 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, according to the Justice Department. Lam pleaded guilty to one count of participating in a RICO conspiracy, a reference to the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law that prosecutors use to charge an alleged criminal enterprise rather than isolated acts. Kollar-Kotelly set a status hearing for Dec. 8, 2026.

According to the Second Superseding Indictment, Lam and his co-conspirators stole $245,093,239 in virtual currency from a single victim, identified as “Victim-7,” on or about Aug. 19, 2024. Prosecutors said the theft involved about 4,100 bitcoin. In announcing the plea, the Justice Department described the amount as more than $245 million.

The broader federal case alleges an international social-engineering enterprise that operated from no later than October 2023 through at least May 2025, stealing cryptocurrency and laundering the proceeds. According to the indictment, this was not a blockchain hack in the usual sense. Instead, prosecutors said the group relied on human deception and account takeover tactics, including impersonating employees of trusted companies such as Google and a cryptocurrency exchange, to obtain victims’ credentials and gain access to their accounts.

After gaining control of accounts, the group allegedly moved and concealed the proceeds through exchangers, shell companies and crypto-to-fiat conversions, according to the Justice Department and court filings. The broader indictment includes allegations of RICO conspiracy, wire-fraud conspiracy and money-laundering conspiracy, though Lam’s plea was to the RICO conspiracy count.

The case stands out both for the scale of the alleged theft and for the government’s use of organized-crime charges in a crypto fraud prosecution centered on social engineering. Rather than accusing the defendants of breaking the underlying bitcoin network, prosecutors have framed the case as an enterprise built around impersonation, spoofed communications and remote access to victims’ accounts.

The prosecution is part of a broader case that the Justice Department and press reports have described as involving 18 defendants. Several co-defendants had already pleaded guilty before Lam’s plea.

In a Justice Department press release, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Ferris Pirro said: “This defendant led an international network that preyed on victims through deception, invaded their privacy, and stole hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency.”