Malone Lam pleads guilty to $245 million Bitcoin theft from Gemini impersonation scheme

Sep 7, 2026

Malone Lam, a 22-year-old Singaporean national, is scheduled to plead guilty in federal court for orchestrating a massive $245 million Bitcoin theft from a Washington, D.C. investor. Lam and his co-conspirators impersonated Google and Gemini representatives to trick the victim into surrendering security codes. The group laundered the funds to finance a lavish lifestyle of sports cars, private jets, and multi-million dollar nightclub sprees, which ultimately led to their arrest. This landmark case represents the first Bitcoin-related prosecution brought under the federal RICO statute.

$245 million Bitcoin theft scheme

▪The criminal group, operating as the Social Engineering Enterprise, was linked to thefts totaling more than $263 million across multiple incidents from October 2023 through March 2025
▪Malone Lam and co-conspirators Veer Chetal and Jeandiel Serrano siphoned over 4,100 Bitcoin, valued at over $240 million, from a Washington, D.C. resident identified as Victim 7 on August 18, 2024
▪The Social Engineering Enterprise group conducted physical home burglaries to steal hardware wallets when victims kept their cryptocurrency offline
▪Malone Lam, a 22-year-old Singaporean national, is scheduled to appear in a Washington, D.C. federal court on September 8, 2026, for a plea agreement hearing regarding his role in a $245 million Bitcoin theft

Impersonation of trusted institutions

▪The callers manipulated Victim 7 into installing remote desktop software and revealing security codes, allowing Malone Lam to access the victim's Google Drive and cryptocurrency wallets
▪Co-conspirators posing as Google and Gemini cryptocurrency exchange representatives contacted Victim 7, falsely warning him that his accounts were compromised to gain access to his security credentials

Lavish spending by perpetrators

▪Malone Lam spent over $569,000 in a single night at a Los Angeles nightclub and spent $4 million at Los Angeles nightclubs within one month using the stolen funds
▪A week after the theft, masked men in Danbury, Connecticut, rammed a Lamborghini driven by Veer Chetal's parents, beat his father with a baseball bat, and kidnapped the couple to extort Chetal for his share of the stolen cryptocurrency
▪Malone Lam purchased a $2 million watch and more than 30 luxury cars, including custom Porsches, Lamborghinis, and Ferraris, titling them to a shell company named Crypto Administration LLC

FBI arrests in Miami

▪The FBI seized $37 million in stolen cryptocurrency from Veer Chetal's Brunswick, New Jersey apartment on September 9, 2024, after tracking an IP address Jeandiel Serrano failed to conceal
▪The FBI arrested Jeandiel Serrano at Los Angeles International Airport on September 18, 2024, while he was wearing a $500,000 watch, leading to his admission of possessing $20 million of the stolen cryptocurrency
▪The FBI arrested Malone Lam on September 18, 2024, at a rented mansion in Miami, Florida, after receiving a tip-off from an off-duty law enforcement officer

First Bitcoin RICO prosecution

▪The prosecution of Malone Lam and 17 other co-defendants marks the first time a Bitcoin-related theft case has been prosecuted under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)
▪Of the 18 individuals indicted in connection with the scheme, 10 have already pleaded guilty, and U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has sentenced three co-conspirators

Rising cryptocurrency fraud complaints

▪The U.S. Justice Department disbanded its dedicated unit for prosecuting cryptocurrency-related crimes in 2025
▪Complaints of cryptocurrency investment fraud to the FBI rose by nearly 50% in 2025, occurring alongside a reduction in federal regulatory crackdowns on the industry

Debatable claims

▪Federal prosecutors should use the RICO Act to prosecute cryptocurrency theft rings
▪The US Justice Department should reinstate its dedicated cryptocurrency prosecution unit