SINGAPORE — A Singaporean national who lives in the United States was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents over a conspiracy to steal and launder more than US$230 million (S$297 million) in cryptocurrency.
Malone Lam, 20, was charged in a US district court in southern Florida on Sept 19, according to a press release from the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
Also facing charges is Lam's alleged co-conspirator Jeandiel Serrano. The 21-year-old appeared in a district court in California on the same day.
The two men each face one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
Lam, who splits his time between Miami and Los Angeles, uses the online monikers "Anne Hathaway" and "$$$", while Serrano uses the names "VersaceGod" and "@SkidStar", said the release.
According to the indictment, Lam, Serrano and their conspirators contacted a victim in Washington DC on Aug 18 and fraudulently obtained over 4,100 bitcoin, which was worth over US$230 million at the time.
They had planned to launder the stolen crypto currency through exchanges and mixing services while using virtual private networks (VPNs) to mask their true identities, said the DOJ.
"Lam and Serrano then allegedly spent the laundered cryptocurrency proceeds on international travel, nightclubs, luxury automobiles, watches, jewelry, designer handbags, and rental homes in Los Angeles and Miami," said the release.
A post on social media platform X by blockchain sleuth ZachXBT said Lam, Serrano and another person named Veer Chetal had conspired to target a creditor of defunct trading firm Genesis through a sophisticated social engineering scam.
The victim was contacted by a spoofed number that posed as a member of Google support, and was convinced to reset their two-factor authentication settings and send funds to a compromised wallet, said ZachXBT.
Investigations into the case are still ongoing.
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