Singaporean man admits stealing $245M in Bitcoin — and blowing $500,000 a night at New York nightclubs

In one of the biggest cases of digital asset theft in global history, Malone Lam, a 22-year-old Singaporean national, pleaded guilty in a United States federal court to a racketeering conspiracy charge.

Lam admitted to being the mastermind behind an international cybercrime ring that successfully siphoned $245 million worth of Bitcoin from unsuspecting victims. He worked with co-conspirators from California, Connecticut, New York, Florida, and non-U.S. nationals whom he met through video game chatrooms.

According to the BBC, the case has captivated the public not only because of its sheer economic scale, but also because of the jaw-dropping, hedonistic lifestyle the conspirators maintained using the stolen funds. From high-end, multi-million-dollar supercars to throwing designer handbags into nightclub crowds, the case offers a look into a dark internet subculture that achieved unimaginable wealth before eventually collapsing under federal scrutiny.

The judge said the evidence felt like watching “Ferris Bueller gone bad”

Malone Lam’s trajectory into high-tier cybercrime began far from the glamorous nightclubs of Los Angeles and Miami. Investigators revealed that Lam dropped out of secondary school in Singapore when he was just 14 years old. He eventually traveled to the United States in Oct. 2023 and overstayed his visa after it expired in Jan. 2024.

According to federal prosecutors, Lam’s criminal network operated from 2023 to 2025. Posing as technical security employees from major corporations like Google, the group aggressively targeted affluent cryptocurrency holders.

In their most lucrative attack, which took place in Aug. 2024, Lam’s crew contacted a high-profile resident in Washington, D.C., who was a creditor of the bankrupt crypto lender Genesis.

Convincing the victim that their accounts had been compromised, Lam’s team manipulated them into downloading remote-access software and resetting their two-factor authentication. Within minutes of gaining entry, the crew managed to siphon away 4,100 Bitcoin, valued at more than $230 million, from that single victim alone.

After using a complex web of cryptocurrency mixers, the stolen millions finally hit their wallets, and Lam and his immediate associates embarked on a relentless spending spree across the United States. During his initial court appearances, U.S. Magistrate Judge Alicia Valle famously remarked that listening to the evidence felt like watching “Ferris Bueller gone bad.”

Lam became notorious in the Los Angeles and Miami nightlife scenes. Prosecutors noted that the young ringer routinely dropped between $300,000 and $500,000 per night at elite New York City nightclubs, turning heads by casually handing out ultra-luxury Hermès handbags to random patrons.

Beyond bottle service, Lam used the laundered funds to buy a fleet of more than 30 high-end luxury automobiles and rent massive mansions in Los Angeles, Miami and the Hamptons.

Lam’s guilty plea is a major development in a sprawling federal investigation that has expanded significantly over the past two years. Prosecutors originally charged Lam and Serrano, but later added a broader racketeering conspiracy charge after linking 18 total defendants to the network. Lam is now the 11th individual in the ring to plead guilty. 

He’s facing a maximum of 20 years

Other co-conspirators, such as Evan Tangeman, have already received prison sentences for their specific roles in laundering the money and attempting to destroy evidence.

Lam’s case underscores the severe penalties now facing high-tech fraudsters. Under the federal RICO statute, Lam faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. Furthermore, as a foreign national, he will face mandatory deportation back to Singapore or another country upon completion of his prison sentence.