Malone Lam, 22, pleads guilty to stealing $245 million in crypto through a Google impersonation scheme

A 22-year-old man who dropped out of school in the eighth grade pleaded guilty on Sept. 8 to helping steal more than $245 million in cryptocurrency after teaming up with friends.

According to the Associated Press, Malone Lam used proceeds from the theft to buy luxury cars, rent Miami mansions and spend millions at nightclubs. One night at a Los Angeles club, he reportedly spent $569,000.

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The money didn't come from a lucky crypto investment, either. Prosecutors say it was stolen from a Washington, D.C., resident in August 2024, in one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in U.S. history. The group allegedly posed as representatives of Google and the Gemini crypto exchange, and the victim lost a staggering $245 million in digital assets.

How the group allegedly got hold of the money is another part of the story. A scam doesn't always begin with a suspicious-looking email or an obvious fake website.

What happened?

Lam, a Singaporean citizen who had been living in Miami, pleaded guilty to participating in a federal racketeering conspiracy.

The Justice Department says the international cybercrime operation began around October 2023 and continued until approximately May 2025. The group allegedly used social engineering to steal cryptocurrency and move the money around to hide where it came from. Prosecutors say the group formed through connections made on online gaming platforms and included people based in California, Connecticut, New York, Florida and abroad.