US plea deal talks continue for Malone Lam, the Singaporean accused leading crypto theft ring

Following the theft, the Department of Justice alleges that Lam and “his associates spent over US$4 million in stolen virtual currency at Los Angeles nightclubs”. 

Prosecutors allege that Lam and some of his co-defendants formed a “Social Engineering Enterprise” in late 2023, born out of friendships formed in online gaming platforms.

According to prosecutors, they identified people with vast amounts of crypto, then duped them into handing over their account passwords, private keys and seed phrases by pretending to be support agents at Google or crypto exchanges.

Using that information, Lam and his associates allegedly accessed the victim’s accounts, stole their virtual currencies, laundered them in offshore exchanges, and then converted them into hard cash.

Prosecutors allege that the enterprise stole more than US$265 million worth of cryptocurrency and spent lavish amounts of money on private jet rentals, luxury homes, exotic cars and nightclub services totalling more than US$4 million.

Nine of Lam’s co-conspirators have already pleaded guilty in the case, including most recently Evan Tangeman, 22, of Newport Beach, California, who admitted that he helped launder at least US$3.5 million for the group.

These co-conspirators could testify against Lam if his case goes to trial.