Malone Lam Pleads Guilty In $245M Bitcoin Theft Case

Malone Lam, 22, pleaded guilty to leading an international crime group responsible for the theft of 4,100 bitcoins, valued at over 230 million dollars at the time. The U.S. Department of Justice reported that from October 2023 to at least May 2025, Lam and his associates hacked databases to steal crypto users' information, deceiving them into providing logins and private keys. The total value of stolen cryptocurrencies reached 245 million dollars. In one incident, a co-defendant broke into a New Mexico residence to steal a hardware wallet while Lam monitored the victim via a hacked iCloud account. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro stated that Lam led a network that invaded victims' privacy and stole hundreds of millions in cryptocurrency. The group used social engineering and home break-ins to drain victims' wallets. Lam and his co-defendants laundered the stolen bitcoin, spending it on luxury items, parties, and properties in Los Angeles, the Hamptons, and Miami, with expenditures reaching up to 500,000 dollars a night. Lam was arrested in 2024 at his rental home in Miami.