SINGAPORE: A person who laundered hundreds of thousands of {dollars} for a cryptocurrency theft ring allegedly led by Singaporean Malone Lam has been sentenced to 70 months’ jail in the USA.
Evan Tangeman, 22, was sentenced in a Washington DC federal courtroom on Friday (Apr 24) for his position in a “multi-state legal enterprise” that stole greater than US$263 million in crypto by means of an “elaborate social engineering scheme”, the US Lawyer’s Workplace for the District of Columbia mentioned.
Authorities mentioned the group – whose alleged leader Lam has been charged however not convicted – used the stolen funds to bankroll lavish life, together with luxurious vehicles, high-end watches, the gifting of luxurious purses at nightclub events and nightclub spending that might attain US$500,000 an evening.
Tangeman pleaded responsible in December final yr to collaborating in a racketeering conspiracy (RICO) and admitted to laundering a minimum of US$3.5 million for the group. He was additionally ordered to serve three years of supervised launch after his jail time period.
Prosecutors mentioned Tangeman performed a key position because the operation’s cash launderer, changing stolen cryptocurrency into money and serving to safe luxurious rental properties in Los Angeles and Miami for members of the group.
The US Lawyer’s Workplace famous that a few of these houses had been valued between US$4 million to about US$9 million, whereas the group members had been “unemployed younger males, typically beneath 20 years outdated … with no reputable supply of earnings”.
The group, which operated from a minimum of October 2023 to Might 2025, grew out of connections fashioned on on-line gaming platforms and concerned people throughout a number of US states and abroad.
Ring members carried out a variety of roles, together with hacking databases, figuring out targets, making fraudulent calls and even burglarising houses to steal {hardware} crypto wallets.
In keeping with prosecutors, Tangeman, who’s from Newport Seaside in California, was “well-rewarded for his legal conduct”.
He benefited from the scheme, together with receiving luxurious vehicles as compensation and spent legal proceeds on high-end items.
One such car was a Lamborghini Urus bought for Tangeman by co-accused Lam, the US Lawyer’s Workplace mentioned.
