Malone Lam Set to Plead Guilty in $263 Million Bitcoin Social-Engineering Theft

Malone Lam, a 22-year-old Singaporean accused of leading a group that stole more than 4,100 Bitcoin from a Washington, D.C. investor in August 2024, is scheduled to enter a guilty plea in US federal court on September 9, according to court filings reported by Crypto Briefing. At least 10 of the 18 people charged in the case have already pleaded guilty ahead of his hearing, including a codefendant, Evan Tangeman, whose own guilty plea to racketeering conspiracy the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia announced alongside a second superseding indictment adding three more defendants.

Prosecutors say the theft occurred on August 18, 2024, when members of the group contacted a longtime crypto investor identified in filings as "Victim 7" and used social engineering to gain control of his holdings. One caller impersonated a Google representative warning of suspicious account activity, while another posed as an employee of the Gemini exchange citing a malware threat. The calls convinced the victim to share Google Drive access and security codes, which the group used to seize his Bitcoin, then valued at roughly $263 million and worth more than $368 million at current prices, per the Justice Department.