U.S. Charges 18 People in Their 20s Over $240 Million Bitcoin Theft, Lavish Spending Spree

A group of people in their 20s in the U.S. have been charged after allegedly stealing $240 million worth of Bitcoin and splurging on sports cars and luxury homes.

The Associated Press reported on September 7 that U.S. prosecutors charged 18 people, including Malone Lam, with stealing more than 4,100 Bitcoin from a longtime digital-asset investor in Washington, D.C., in August 2024.

Investigators say the group approached the victim while posing as representatives of Google and Gemini, a digital-asset exchange. They then induced the victim to give them access to a Google Drive account and security codes before stealing the Bitcoin.

The group later allegedly laundered the stolen funds through multiple digital-asset trading platforms and converted them into cash. They bought dozens of sports cars, flew on private jets and rented luxury homes in Miami and the Hamptons. Lam also spent more than $569,000 in a single night at a Los Angeles nightclub.

Authorities identified one member of the group after he created an exchange account to store about $30 million in stolen digital assets without concealing the internet protocol, or IP, address, the report said. The FBI tracked the IP address and found a California house rented by the group.

Of the 18 defendants, 10 have pleaded guilty so far, according to the report.