A Global Crypto Crime Ring Uncovered

Federal authorities have charged 12 additional individuals in a $263 million crypto racketeering scheme and money laundering operation

Federal authorities have charged 12 additional individuals in a $263 million crypto racketeering scheme and money laundering operation, focusing on a 20-year-old Singaporean named Malone Lam.

According to the latest indictment filed on Monday in a Washington, D.C., federal court, Lam and his accomplices met through online gaming platforms and engaged in cyberattacks and physical crimes to steal digital assets from wealthy holders.

Among the crimes, the indictment mentions the theft of over 4,100 Bitcoin, valued at $230 million, from a creditor of the defunct Genesis crypto exchange on August 18, 2024. The group laundered funds through cryptocurrency mixers, peel chains, and fake identities, though blockchain investigator ZachXBT and federal authorities traced their activities.

The charges come as Coinbase disclosed a security breach where hackers bribed overseas support agents to steal personal data from less than 1% of users, impacting 97,000 customers.

The hackers then used the stolen data to perform social engineering scams, ultimately defrauding users of over $45 million in May 2025, according to ZachXBT's investigation.

The new indictment also details a July 2024 incident where Lam's accomplices broke into a New Mexico home and stole a hardware wallet, leading to a loss of over $96 million in Bitcoin.

Moreover, the indictment mentions physical threats and violence targeting crypto wealth in Europe, including four kidnappings or attempted abductions of crypto millionaires in France, Spain, and Belgium over the past six months.

In Paris, a crypto entrepreneur's father was abducted and his finger severed to extort a €5-7 million ransom, while French police rescued the victim and arrested five suspects.

The stolen funds were used for lavish spending, including $9 million on exotic cars, $4 million on nightclub services, and millions more on a $2 million watch and private jets.

Even from detention, Lam continued orchestrating the scheme, highlighting the difficulty of combating decentralized, tech-savvy crime networks.

As the crypto industry expands, with $2.2 billion in losses from hacks in 2024 alone, these cases signal a need for stronger security measures and international cooperation to protect digital asset holders.