Crypto Ringleader to Plead Guilty in $240M Theft

Lam and friends he met in online gaming forums team up on other multimillion-dollar thefts using a similar playbook, prosecutors say.

The victim, a wealthy longtime crypto investor, is at home in Washington when his phone rings. One caller says he is a Google representative asking about attempts to breach the man's account; a second claims to be from the Gemini crypto exchange and warns of malware hitting his crypto wallet. The callers talk him into handing over access to his Google Drive and security codes, letting Lam siphon off more than 4,100 bitcoin. Prosecutors identify the men on the calls as Lam, Veer Chetal and Jeandiel Serrano.

Roughly a week after the heist, Chetal's parents are driving in Danbury, Connecticut, when several masked men cut them off, force them out of their new car, beat Chetal's father with a baseball bat, shove the couple into a van and bind their hands. The captors, from Miami, intended to use the parents as leverage to extort Chetal's share of the stolen crypto. Witnesses notify police, who apprehend the carjackers.

The FBI searches Chetal's apartment in Brunswick, New Jersey, and finds $37 million in stolen crypto in his possession. He agrees to cooperate.

FBI agents arrest Serrano at Los Angeles International Airport; he is wearing a $500,000 watch. He first professes innocence, then admits to holding roughly $20 million of the victim's crypto, prosecutors said. Lam is arrested the same day at one of his Miami mansions. The indictment says an off-duty law enforcement officer had tipped Lam off that authorities were coming.

Chetal pleads guilty to conspiracy charges. He awaits sentencing.

Tucker Desmond, who pleaded guilty to destroying evidence of other plotters' crimes, is sentenced to probation.

Co-defendant Ferro, who pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge, is sentenced. Prosecutors say he used stolen funds to cover Lam's legal expenses.

Lam's plea agreement hearing is scheduled in Washington.