Singaporean Malone Lam charged in US with heading up cryptocurrency crime ring that stole millions
The 20-year-old has already been charged with stealing cryptocurrency worth US$230 million from one victim in Washington DC.
In a new indictment, federal prosecutors alleged that he orchestrated a wider scheme with a dozen other individuals.
This included hiding money inside "squishmallow" stuffed animals and shipping them across the US to pay the gang's members.
Lam appeared on Monday (May 19) in a court in Washington DC, where he pleaded not guilty to the superseding indictment.
The 13 suspects allegedly became friends via online gaming platforms and they developed a scheme that netted them a total of US$263 million.
They stole the money from cryptocurrency wallets, converted the crypto into dollars, and then laundered the money.
Malone Lam was reportedly central to the scheme and is named in the indictment as one of the gang's two organisers.
The US Attorney's office for the District of Columbia alleged that Lam and 21-year-old Conor Flansburg organised the scheme to identify and target crypto users.
SPENDING SPREE
Lam had already been charged with stealing 4,100 Bitcoin from a single victim, which at the time of the theft in August 2024 was worth over US$230 million.
He purportedly spent the money on nightclub visits – paying up to half a million dollars per evening – as well as buying at least 28 luxury cars, some of them worth up to US$3.8 million each.
In addition, Lam purchased luxury clothing valued in the tens of thousands of dollars and rented homes in wealthy neighbourhoods in Los Angeles, the Hamptons, and Miami.
Federal prosecutors now claim that Lam and Flansburg worked with the gang to identify other high-value targets, reportedly stealing US$14 million from another victim.
They also carried out home burglaries. In one incident, they allegedly broke into a victim's home in New Mexico to steal a virtual currency wallet hardware.
Prosecutors alleged the gang converted the stolen digital currency into cash, which they shipped out to the scheme's members concealed inside "squishmallow" stuffed animals.
RUNNING THE ORGANISATION BEHIND BARS
Lam was arrested last September, but allegedly continued to run the organisation from behind bars.
He reportedly continued working with members of the crime ring to 'pass and receive directions' while being held in detention, ahead of his trial this autumn.
He even allegedly had the ring's members buy luxury bags and deliver them to his girlfriend in Miami.
The 13 suspects, including Lam, have been charged under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations (RICO) Act.
His lawyer Scott Armstrong previously told CNA that 'Malone Lam looks forward to exercising his right to trial by jury in this case'. The trial is scheduled to begin in October.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
16 hours ago
- CNA
Tokenize Xchange operator under probe, director charged with fraudulent trading
SINGAPORE: The operator of cryptocurrency trading platform Tokenize Xchange is under investigation, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Friday (Aug 1). AmazingTech and its related companies are currently being probed by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) for potential offences, including fraudulent trading, SPF and MAS said in a joint statement. Mr Hong Qi Yu, a director of AmazingTech, was also charged on Thursday with fraudulent trading. The offence carries an imprisonment term of up to seven years, a fine, or both. AmazingTech had operated Tokenize Xchange under an exemption from holding a licence under the Payment Services Act 2019 while MAS assessed its application. Authorities said the exemption applied to entities already conducting activities that came under the Act when it took effect. The joint statement said AmazingTech is not licensed by MAS and its activities were not supervised or regulated by MAS. Its exemption ended on Jul 4 when MAS rejected its application for a digital payment token license. 'Thereafter, AmazingTech was required to cease providing payment services, wind down its business in an orderly manner, and ensure that all monies and digital payment tokens received from its customers were returned,' said MAS and SPF. Tokenize Xchange said on Jul 20 it would relocate to Labuan, Malaysia, after MAS rejected its application. CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS In mid-July, MAS received several customer complaints against the company for delays in processing withdrawals of funds and digital payment tokens to customers. 'MAS asked AmazingTech to remedy these concerns and take steps to return the monies and digital payment tokens to customers in an orderly manner, including topping up the shortfall in the customer accounts.' From its engagements with the company, MAS subsequently found indications that it did not have sufficient assets to meet its customers' claims and that it might not have segregated its customers' assets from AmazingTech's assets. MAS also found indications that AmazingTech might have made false representations to MAS regarding the segregation of its customers' assets, when it applied for a major payments Institution licence. MAS then referred the company to CAD for investigations. Tokenize previously said that its 15 employees in Singapore would be laid off by Sep 30, though some may be offered work in its international operations. Staff who remain will assist Singapore users until then, and the company said it would support employees in their search for new career opportunities.
CNA
a day ago
- CNA
UK, US, France, 11 other nations condemn Iranian intelligence threats
LONDON: Britain and 13 allies, including the United States and France, condemned on Thursday (Jul 31) what they called a surge in assassination, kidnapping and harassment plots by Iranian intelligence services targeting individuals in Europe and North America. "We are united in our opposition to the attempts of Iranian intelligence services to kill, kidnap, and harass people in Europe and North America in clear violation of our sovereignty," the countries said in a joint statement. The governments of Albania, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US called on the Iranian authorities to immediately stop such illegal activities. They said such actions were increasingly carried out in collaboration with international criminal networks. Since early 2022, Britain says it has disrupted more than 20 Iran-linked plots to kidnap or kill individuals in the UK, including British nationals and others Tehran views as threats. In October, Reuters reported that Iran was behind a wave of attempted assassinations and abductions across Europe and the United States. In March, the British government announced it would require the Iranian state to register all political influence activities, citing increasingly aggressive behaviour by Tehran's intelligence services.
CNA
4 days ago
- CNA
At least 5 killed in shooting at Manhattan skyscraper
At least five people were killed in a shooting inside a Manhattan skyscraper on Monday (Jul 28). The casualties include a police officer and the gunman, who shot himself dead. The gunman, identified as Shane Tamura, was a 27-year-old Las Vegas resident with a history of mental illness, police said.
