A 22-year-old kid stole over $245 million in Bitcoin.

[zasad@]

"A 22-year-old man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to teaming up with friends to steal nearly a quarter-billion dollars in bitcoin from a Washington, D.C., resident — one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in U.S. history — and then embarking on a wild spending spree with the laundered proceeds.

Malone Lam, an eighth-grade dropout who came to the U.S. from Singapore, faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years after pleading guilty to a federal racketeering conspiracy charge. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly didn’t immediately schedule Lam’s sentencing hearing in Washington.

Lam was an organizer for a network of young men who carried out a string of crypto scams starting in 2023, prosecutors said. He is one of 18 defendants charged in the case and is the 11th to plead guilty, but his conviction marks a major breakthrough for the Justice Department’s investigation."
https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-scam-malone-lam-guilty-58db2e40ba8b20bff8c70eb5d9d6b537


The scammers — a network of young men in their late teens or early 20s — celebrated the August 2024 heist by embarking on a wild spending spree. They purchased fleets of sports cars, flew on private jets, hired security guards and rented mansions in Miami and the Hamptons. An alleged ringleader, 22-year-old Malone Lam, spent over $569,000 in one evening at a Los Angeles night club.
https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-scam-malone-lam-guilty-3d40f81fd3ba0b5e28d6b962ca6b343d

[PostQuantumBTC]

"A 22-year-old man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to teaming up with friends to steal nearly a quarter-billion dollars in bitcoin from a Washington, D.C., resident — one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in U.S. history — and then embarking on a wild spending spree with the laundered proceeds.

Privacy is something that people should take seriously now, physical attack is becoming very common and it is possible that it will become more common in future than how it is today.

The scammers — a network of young men in their late teens or early 20s — celebrated the August 2024 heist by embarking on a wild spending spree. They purchased fleets of sports cars, flew on private jets, hired security guards and rented mansions in Miami and the Hamptons. An alleged ringleader, 22-year-old Malone Lam, spent over $569,000 in one evening at a Los Angeles night club.

The problem of these people is that they can not hide the money and do it in a way it can convince people that the money is not illegal. All they know is to live a luxurious life, thinking they are not exposing themselves.

It is good that they have been arrested.

[Tungbulu]

Sometimes I wonder how so much money can make some people so reckless and stupid. It was already too serious to have stolen that much money, but spending hundreds of thousands in one night and buying mansions and luxury cars is just the highest display of stupidity and made it quite easy for authorities to look towards their direction, I mean what were they thinking?

Yeah, Bitcoin can sure give people control over their funds, but that still doesn’t in anyway mean that criminals can actually hide forever, especially when they decide to go on a spending spree and spending large amounts. And this also serves as a wake up call for those who are being careless with their holdings, Bitcoin holders are a major target for scammers and hackers, and it’s only logical for them to go the extra mile to protect themselves and their holdings too.

[Faisal2202]

Sometimes I wonder how so much money can make some people so reckless and stupid. It was already too serious to have stolen that much money, but spending hundreds of thousands in one night and buying mansions and luxury cars is just the highest display of stupidity and made it quite easy for authorities to look towards their direction, I mean what were they thinking?

Exactly haha, they were not thinking.

They should be given lifetime IMO, because a person who ran $24 million Ponzi Scheme is getting 280 years, and these are getting only 20 years. That does not justify it.

I checked the details, the Nevada man who got 280 years is not yet official, it is the maximum sentence, but maybe it will be shorter. But the major difference they mentioned is Kovar (Nevada man) defrauded 400 investors, that's why he could get that much sentence.

While this Malone Lam defrauded fewer, so that's why he got 20 years. Like money does not matter.

[Z-tight]

The victim is lucky that they would get some of their money back. I'm sure when all of these properties are liquidated, a fair portion of the stolen funds would be recovered, though the victim would still incur huge losses, as most of the funds have been squandered.

I think if you have $245m in BTC, you should not be deceived through social engineering by a bunch of kids. You'd have to be sceptical about every call and message that has anything to do with your wallet or funds. The news also read that the perpetrators impersonated representatives from Gemini crypto exchange, so, i don't want to believe that this victim stored that amount in a centralized exchange.

[BABY SHOES]

Sometimes I wonder how so much money can make some people so reckless and stupid. It was already too serious to have stolen that much money, but spending hundreds of thousands in one night and buying mansions and luxury cars is just the highest display of stupidity and made it quite easy for authorities to look towards their direction, I mean what were they thinking?

Too stupid indeed the man... showing off her assets with a luxurious lifestyle is the result of her because this is still stupid to do.

Do you want to spend too much money in a short time? So much so that it took months.

This is his investigation... [1] https://x.com/zachxbt/status/1836752923830702392

[Tungbulu]

Too stupid indeed the man... showing off her assets with a luxurious lifestyle is the result of her because this is still stupid to do.

Do you want to spend too much money in a short time? So much so that it took months.

This is his investigation... [1] https://x.com/zachxbt/status/1836752923830702392

Nothing is indeed hidden under the sun, and no crime especially one’s as heinous as this one can go unpunished, in one way or the other, the scammers would still be caught, but I just didn’t expect that they’ll be so stupid enough to facilitate their capture. But it is what it is right??

[BABY SHOES]

but I just didn’t expect that they’ll be so stupid enough to facilitate their capture. But it is what it is right??

He was 22 years old, his immature thoughts had never even occurred to him about privacy, not that I supported his actions, but that age was indeed a time when he wanted to rah rah with his friends, his core wanted to get validation from many people that he was a rich man.

An ordinary hacker will not reveal himself, he will remain anonymous and continue to hide behind a mask, not with the man... he just wanted to enjoy vulgarly.

[X-ray]

but I just didn’t expect that they’ll be so stupid enough to facilitate their capture. But it is what it is right??

He was 22 years old, his immature thoughts had never even occurred to him about privacy, not that I supported his actions, but that age was indeed a time when he wanted to rah rah with his friends, his core wanted to get validation from many people that he was a rich man.

An ordinary hacker will not reveal himself, he will remain anonymous and continue to hide behind a mask, not with the man... he just wanted to enjoy vulgarly.

Let alone privacy, I don't even think that person understand the magnitude of his action.

On his mind, it's just another crypto scam like usual that will go unpunished, he's dead wrong.

A quarter of billion stolen easily put him under the law enforcement radar and wouldn't go unpunished.

So many crime don't get enough punishment is why so many has become so bold in their crime activity.

They thought they're invincible.

[Dave1]

Sometimes I wonder how so much money can make some people so reckless and stupid. It was already too serious to have stolen that much money, but spending hundreds of thousands in one night and buying mansions and luxury cars is just the highest display of stupidity and made it quite easy for authorities to look towards their direction, I mean what were they thinking?

No amount of money, as long as it's free and most likely one single attack will netted them in millions, they won't go low profile and will just flaunt their money in public. Giving them an aura that they are rich kids. Nevertheless, it's a stupid move as it screams to the authorities that they wanted to be investigated.

Yeah, Bitcoin can sure give people control over their funds, but that still doesn’t in anyway mean that criminals can actually hide forever, especially when they decide to go on a spending spree and spending large amounts. And this also serves as a wake up call for those who are being careless with their holdings, Bitcoin holders are a major target for scammers and hackers, and it’s only logical for them to go the extra mile to protect themselves and their holdings too.

Exactly, they are reckless and wanted to have that kind of life. That's why when they hit that jackpot, then they are going to spend it lavishly. And for sure there are a lot of free loaders during his hype and not they are all gone. That is the vicious cycle of life.

[Yablee0]

Sometimes I just can't help but wonder what will young boy's in their early 20's be doing with such amount of money. An amount that many adults haven't even seen in their entire lifetime. Is surprising, because even most times this guy's don't even know what to do with those money that they stole, if you aren't seeing them throwing it away on luxuries, you will see them wasting it on clubbing, womanizing , drug's and all sorts of things you can ever imagine. Again, how this kid's were able to made away with such significant amount is still a shock to me but since they've been apprehended and compelled to face the full weight of the law, I think it's fine. Maybe this will serve as a deterrent to as many that are thinking or planning of toeing the same path.

[Tungbulu]

No amount of money, as long as it's free and most likely one single attack will netted them in millions, they won't go low profile and will just flaunt their money in public. Giving them an aura that they are rich kids. Nevertheless, it's a stupid move as it screams to the authorities that they wanted to be investigated.

I think it’s just their immaturity that led them into literally flaunting the money and going on a public spending spree without an actual plan or even thinking about the consequences of their actions. Because I know there are people who steals millions and even the nearest person to them would never know they are in custody of such amount of money. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve said or thought that he actually wanted to be caught.

[theguywhoisnice]

22-year-old Malone Lam, spent over $569,000 in one evening at a Los Angeles night club.

[/quote]
Love that part the most, kid for sure. Cool that they got arrested

[MarryWithBTC]

A 22-year-old kid stole over $245 million in Bitcoin.

The kind and amount of money I hear in this industry makes me ask; which part of the industry am I. I am not even talking about the criminals, let's even ask how the legitimate owner made that huge amount of money and still kept it in crypto.

An alleged ringleader, 22-year-old Malone Lam, spent over $569,000 in one evening at a Los Angeles night club.
https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-scam-malone-lam-guilty-3d40f81fd3ba0b5e28d6b962ca6b343d

Now, money that will take someone their lifetime to earn was lavished just a night. I wish I will see similar amount in my lifetime, I'll simply go build a city where no crime exists.