A 20-year-old Singaporean living in the United States (US) is one of two people arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Wednesday (18 Sept) in connection with a massive cryptocurrency theft and laundering scam.
Malone Lam, along with 21-year-old Jeandiel Serrano, is accused of conspiring to steal and launder more than US$230 million (around S$297 million) in cryptocurrency.
The arrests came after an FBI raid on a lavish 10-bedroom, 10-bathroom mansion worth US$11.5 million (S$14.8 million) in Miami, Florida.
Source: Miami Herald
Neighbours told the Miami Herald that it was common to see luxury cars like Lamborghinis parked outside the property.
According to a US District Court indictment, Lam and Serrano worked together, along with others, to steal cryptocurrency and launder the stolen funds through various exchanges and mixing services.
The scheme allegedly started in at least August of this year.
Source: Broward County Mugshots Zone
Using online aliases, the pair reportedly gained fraudulent access to victims’ cryptocurrency accounts and transferred the funds to themselves.
Lam went by “Anne Hathaway” and “$$$”, while Serrano used “VersaceGod” and “@SkidStar”.
They then laundered the stolen money and used methods like “peel chains”, pass-through wallets, and virtual private networks (VPNs) to conceal their identities.
A peel chain splits large amounts of cryptocurrency into smaller transactions to make them harder to trace.
On 18 Aug, Lam, Serrano, and their co-conspirators fraudulently obtained over 4,100 Bitcoin, valued at more than US$230 million at the time, from a victim in Washington D.C.
Source: Karolina Grabowska on Canva. For illustration purposes only
They used the stolen cryptocurrency to fund an extravagant lifestyle.
Purchases included luxury cars, watches, jewellery, designer handbags, international travel, nightclubs, and rental homes in Los Angeles and Miami.
Authorities are continuing their investigation into the case.
Also read: S’pore nationals among suspects arrested for 125M baht cryptocurrency scam in Thailand
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Featured image adapted from Broward County Mugshots Zone and Miami Herald.
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