S'porean Malone Lam, 20, could go on trial in US by Apr. 2025 for alleged theft of US$230 million in bitcoin

Malone Lam, 20, a Singaporean man, could go on trial as early as March or April 2025 in the United States for allegedly stealing US$230 million in bitcoin, or about 4,100 of them.

He appeared in a Washington DC court on Nov. 14 (U.S. time) for a pre-trial hearing, according to CNA.

The judge suggested a trial could take place in March or April 2025.

This was after Lam requested for a “speedy trial”, a legal right in the U.S., which protects against "undue delay" in criminal prosecution.

Lam was not the only one charged.

Jeandiel Serrano, 21, who was Lam's accomplice, has also been charged with stealing and laundering the cryptocurrency in August 2024.

Lam is being held at Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, Virginia, about two hours from the U.S. capital.

He will return to court on Jan. 9, 2025.

He faces up to 20 years in jail,​ ​a fine of up to US$250,000, or up to twice his gains from the scams for each offence.

How crime was allegedly committed

U.S. prosecutors have described the scam as "one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts from a private individual" in the history of the country.

On Aug. 18, Lam and Serrano called the victim by pretending to be from Google support, CNA previously reported on the social engineering approach utilised by the two accused men.

They said a hack attempt on the victim's account had occurred.

The victim was convinced to provide the security codes to his account.

Lam then allegedly accessed the OneDrive and Gmail accounts belonging to the victim to locate the cryptocurrency assets.

Lam then apparently found Gemini cryptocurrency exchange records in the Google accounts.

More social engineering

One of them then called the victim back and pretended to be a Gemini security team member.

The victim was convinced that his cryptocurrency accounts had also been compromised.

They allegedly managed to convince the victim to transfer about US$3 million of cryptocurrency to a crypto wallet controlled by Lam.

They then asked the victim to download a remote desktop connection programme as a security precaution.

This allowed Lam and Serrano to access the victim’s computer.

Serrano allegedly made the victim open several files to reveal private keys to over 4,100 bitcoin.

Lam apparently used the access keys to steal the bitcoin as Serrano spoke to the victim.

Spending sprees

Following the scam, Lam allegedly spent US$400,000 to US$500,000 per night at nightclubs.

He admitted to buying 31 luxury cars.

He purportedly bought Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Porsches, some costing as much as US$3 million each.

A total of nine have been found as of Sep. 24.

Three weeks after the alleged theft, Lam flew on a private jet from Los Angeles to Miami on Sep. 10.

He rented multiple homes in Miami, including waterfront homes.

One home had a monthly rent of US$68,000.

He also continued buying jewellery and cars.

Top photos via X/ZachXBT and Canva