FBI arrests Singaporean man in US over $297m crypto heist
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Malone Lam was charged in a US district court in southern Florida on Sept 19. An Instagram reel (right) shows him purportedly having an extravagant party at a nightclub.
PHOTOS: BSO, IAINTEVENTRIPPIN_/INSTAGRAM
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SINGAPORE – A Singaporean man who lives in the United States has been arrested by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents over a conspiracy to steal and launder more than US$230 million (S$297 million) in cryptocurrency.
Malone Lam, 20, was charged in a US district court in southern Florida on Sept 19, according to a press release from the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
Also facing charges is Lam’s alleged co-conspirator, Jeandiel Serrano. The 21-year-old appeared in a district court in California on the same day.
They each face one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
Lam, who splits his time between Miami and Los Angeles, uses the online monikers “Anne Hathaway” and “$$”, while Serrano uses the names “VersaceGod” and “@SkidStar”, said the indictment.
Lam, Serrano and their conspirators contacted a victim in Washington on Aug 18 and fraudulently obtained more than 4,100 bitcoins – worth over US$230 million at the time.
They had planned to launder the stolen cryptocurrency through exchanges and mixing services while using virtual private networks to mask their true identities, said the DOJ.
Mixing services mix up multiple users’ cryptocurrencies to hide the original owners of the funds.
“Lam and Serrano then allegedly spent the laundered cryptocurrency proceeds on international travel, nightclubs, luxury automobiles, watches, jewellery, designer handbags and rental homes in Los Angeles and Miami,” said the release.
A post on social media platform X by blockchain sleuth ZachXBT said Lam, Serrano and another person named Veer Chetal had conspired to target a creditor of defunct trading firm Genesis through a sophisticated social engineering scam.
The victim was contacted by a spoofed number that posed as a member of Google support, and was convinced to reset two-factor authentication settings and send funds to a compromised wallet, said ZachXBT.
Investigations into the case are still ongoing.
