A 22-year-old Singaporean man has pleaded guilty in a US court to leading a racketeering conspiracy that stole approximately $245 million (£181 million) in bitcoin through deception and, in some cases, home break-ins.
Malone Lam admitted working with associates to target victims, obtain their confidential information and empty their cryptocurrency wallets. The group then laundered the proceeds to fund an extravagant lifestyle of high-end cars, private jets, luxury homes and lavish nights out.
US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said the case showed authorities’ resolve against large-scale cybercrime. “If you build a cybercrime empire, we will find you, dismantle your operation, and hold you accountable,” she 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.”
According to court documents, the conspiracy began no later than October 2023 and continued until at least May 2025. Lam, who used aliases including Anne Hathaway, $$$ and King Greavy, was described by the US Department of Justice as the ringleader. He identified targets and coordinated roles among co-conspirators from California, Connecticut, New York, Florida and outside the United States who first connected through online gaming platforms.
Investigators said the group used deception to gain access to victims’ private details. On some occasions members carried out residential break-ins to obtain the information needed to drain wallets. The stolen funds paid for Hermes Birkin handbags worth tens of thousands of dollars that were reportedly thrown into nightclub crowds, watches valued at up to $500,000, designer clothing, rental properties in Los Angeles, the Hamptons and Miami, private jet travel and private security.
Prosecutors said the group could spend as much as $500,000 in a single night at clubs. Lam alone acquired more than 30 luxury vehicles priced between $100,000 and $3.8 million each. He became known in Los Angeles and Miami nightclub circles for his flamboyant spending.
FBI agents arrested Lam and a co-conspirator in September 2024. At his first court appearance, US magistrate Alicia Valle compared the case to “Ferris Bueller gone bad,” referring to the 1986 film about a teenager’s day of excess. She noted the scale of the spending that followed the theft of more than $230 million.
Lam told investigators he left secondary school in Singapore at 14. He entered the United States in October 2023 and remained after his visa expired in January 2024.
One co-conspirator, Evan Tangeman, was sentenced to 70 months in prison in April for laundering proceeds from the scheme. Prosecutors said Tangeman also tried to destroy evidence after Lam’s arrest, showing “consciousness of his guilt.”
Lam pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has not yet set a date for sentencing.
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