Malone Lam Pleads Guilty to RICO Conspiracy in $245 Million Crypto Theft

Malone Lam, ringleader of a scheme that stole and laundered more than $245 million in cryptocurrency, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a RICO conspiracy charge.

The 22-year-old Singaporean national, who lives in Miami, entered the plea before US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington, D.C. The Justice Department said in the announcement that Lam organized the international operation, identified prospective victims and coordinated other conspirators. The plea reportedly marks the first time federal prosecutors have applied racketeering laws to a Bitcoin-related crime, treating a theft crew as an organized enterprise rather than a string of separate fraud counts.

The single count charges conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Court documents describe an enterprise formed through connections on online gaming platforms and operating from no later than October 2023 through at least May 2025.

Prosecutors said Lam and Jeandiel Serrano fraudulently obtained more than 4,100 Bitcoin from a single Washington, D.C. victim on Aug. 18, 2024, the theft at the center of the original indictment. The pair allegedly posed as Google support staff to compromise the victim’s accounts, then impersonated Gemini support to persuade the victim to reset two-factor authentication and run screen-sharing software that exposed private keys. Proceeds were moved through crypto mixers, exchanges, pass-through wallets and virtual private networks, prosecutors allege.

The case widened on May 15, 2025, when a superseding indictment charged 12 additional defendants and put the alleged conspiracy at more than $263 million in total thefts. That filing added a separate $14 million theft from July 2024 and an alleged home break-in targeting a hardware wallet.

The plea establishes criminal responsibility nearly two years after the initial charges. Lam reportedly faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. No sentencing date has been announced; the next scheduled court date is a status hearing on Dec. 8, 2026.