The party is over for cryptocurrency scammers who splurged after the million-dollar bitcoin heist

WASHINGTON (AP) --- They pulled off one of the largest cryptocurrency heists in U.S. history, tricking an unknown victim into handing over bitcoins worth more than $240 million; they attempted to cover their digital tracks, executing a sophisticated plan to launder the profits. And then the party began. The scammers --- a network of young people in their late teens or just over 20 --- celebrated the August 2024 heist by going on a wild spending spree. They bought 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 a single night at a nightclub in Los Angeles. Their binge lasted a month before FBI agents arrested Lam, accused of orchestrating a "social engineering" attack against a resident of Washington, D.C. Lam, who dropped out of school in the eighth grade and is originally from Singapore, has a plea agreement hearing scheduled for Tuesday. A conviction would be the crowning achievement of the government's investigation. The charges against Lam and 17 others are an extreme example of a growing form of cybercrime. Reports of cryptocurrency investment fraud to the FBI surged nearly 50% in 2025, as the administration of Republican President Donald Trump virtually abandoned a regulatory offensive against this volatile industry. Last year, the Justice Department disbanded a unit dedicated to prosecuting digital currency-related crimes. At the same time, cryptocurrency companies that complained of unfair treatment during Democratic President Joe Biden's administration are enjoying the government's hands-off approach under Trump, who made approximately $1.2 billion from his cryptocurrency ventures in 2025. Cybersecurity researcher Allison Nixon, who has spent years tracking The Com, an underground subculture of young hackers united by the "insane amount of money" that can be made from cryptocurrency fraud, advocates for more police resources to go after them. "If we don't seriously increase resources to stop these people and do it faster, then it will spread more and more," she warned.

A man identified as "Victim 7" in court documents was at his home in Washington on August 18, 2024, when his phone rang. The first caller identified himself as a representative from Google and inquired about attempts to compromise his account. A second caller, claiming to be from the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, alerted the man about a malware attack affecting his cryptocurrency wallet. The callers manipulated the man into granting them access to his Google Drive and revealing security codes that allowed Lam to steal over 4,100 bitcoins, according to prosecutors. They indicated that Lam and his friends on the calls ---Veer Chetal and Jeandiel Serrano--- targeted the man because he was a wealthy and experienced cryptocurrency investor. A private recording captured the moment when the friends realized how much money they had just stolen, according to a video posted by a well-known private investigator of cryptocurrency crimes who goes by the name ZachXBT. "Oh my God! Brother, brother, I'm going to lose it!" a voice can be heard saying in the video. Once they seized the man's savings, they turned to money laundering specialists to move it through multiple exchange platforms and convert the virtual currency into government-issued cash. This was not the first social engineering scam for the friends, who met in online gaming forums. They had teamed up in other multi-million dollar heists since late 2023 using a similar script, according to prosecutors. However, this time one of them made a costly mistake: Serrano did not hide his IP address when creating an account on a cryptocurrency exchange to conceal nearly $30 million in stolen cryptocurrencies, according to prosecutors. Investigators linked the IP address to a house in Encino, California, which Serrano rented for $47,500 a month.

Lavish Spending Draws Quick Attention

Serrano was on vacation in the Maldives when investigators identified him as a suspect. Lam was in Los Angeles, where he and his friends spent $4 million in nightclubs in one month, according to authorities. Chetal gifted a Lamborghini to his parents and hid a duffel bag containing $500,000 in cash inside his washing machine. News of their unexpected fortune spread quickly through cryptocurrency scam circles. A week after the big heist, Chetal's parents were driving in Danbury, Connecticut, when several masked men blocked their way, forced them out of their new car, hit Chetal's father with a baseball bat, pushed the couple into a van, and tied their hands. The captors, from Miami, intended to use Chetal's parents as leverage to extort him into handing over his share of the stolen cryptocurrencies. But the kidnapping plan fell apart when witnesses alerted the police, who arrested the car thieves. The FBI showed up to search Chetal's apartment in Brunswick, New Jersey, on September 9, 2024, and found $37 million in cryptocurrencies in his possession. He agreed to cooperate with the investigation. Lam was also drawing attention for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars per night in clubs and throwing handbags worth tens of thousands of dollars to women in the crowd. He also used stolen cryptocurrencies to buy a $2 million watch and over 30 cars, including custom Porsches, Lamborghinis, and Ferraris, according to the FBI. "This luxurious lifestyle, which so many young people ---men and women--- could only dream of, was built on a foundation of fraud," emphasized prosecutor William Hart during a recent sentencing hearing for a co-defendant charged with money laundering.

A Bad Version of Ferris Bueller

Serrano was wearing a $500,000 watch when FBI agents arrested him at Los Angeles International Airport on September 18, 2024. Initially, he proclaimed his innocence, but soon admitted to having approximately $20 million in cryptocurrency stolen from a man in Washington, D.C., according to prosecutors. Lam was arrested at one of his mansions in Miami on the same day as Serrano. An off-duty police officer had alerted Lam that authorities were on their way to arrest him, according to the formal indictment. "We always talked about what it would be like if I got caught, but we never thought it would be this crazy," Lam told his associates from jail in a recorded call, according to his indictment. The judge at Lam's first court appearance in Miami was reportedly astonished by the prosecutor's summary of his extravagant spending. "I could only think of a bad version of Ferris Bueller," commented federal magistrate Alicia Valle, referring to the protagonist who skips school to go on a spree in the 1986 film "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Lam's capture did not stop the spending spree. Ferro, who pleaded guilty last year to a charge of conspiracy to commit organized crime, used stolen funds to cover Lam's legal expenses.

Days of Trial

Eighteen defendants have been charged. Lam will be the 11th to plead guilty. At Lam's first appearance, a prosecutor estimated that sentencing guidelines would recommend a prison sentence of at least 14 years if convicted. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who is presiding over Lam's case, has already sentenced three of his co-conspirators. She imposed approximately six-year prison sentences on two money launderers. Chetal pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in November 2024 and is awaiting sentencing. Charges against Serrano remain pending. Tucker Desmond, who pleaded guilty to destroying evidence of other implicated crimes, was sentenced to probation. Desmond apologized at his sentencing hearing in March, stating that he "became obsessed with the image of success instead of actually becoming a hardworking person." Ferro declined to address the court during his sentencing hearing in May. His attorney, Kevin Wilson, described the co-defendants as "young boys" being mischievous, but the judge did not accept that as an excuse. "Being young only goes so far," Kollar-Kotelly noted. This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.

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