Malone Lam faces $245M Bitcoin theft hearing
- Malone Lam faces a plea agreement hearing over an alleged $245 million Bitcoin theft.
- Prosecutors say callers posing as Google and Gemini staff tricked a Washington investor.
- Ten of 18 people charged in the wider case have already pleaded guilty.
Malone Lam faces a plea agreement hearing in Washington over an alleged $245 million Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) theft.
Prosecutors say callers posing as Google and Gemini staff convinced a Washington investor to surrender security codes.
The attackers then moved more than 4,100 Bitcoin from the investor’s wallets, according to prosecutors.
The indictment charges 18 people as members of an alleged racketeering group called the Social Engineering Enterprise.
Prosecutors say the group used stolen crypto databases to identify targets and sometimes broke into homes.
The stolen funds allegedly moved through Monero and exchanges before being converted into cash through laundering schemes.
Ten of the 18 defendants have pleaded guilty, while three have already been sentenced by US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.
At the time of reporting, Bitcoin price was $78,916.97.
