WASHINGTON: A plea deal could still be in the offing for Singaporean Malone Lam, whom the United States has accused of being the ring leader of a criminal gang that stole hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency.
At a status hearing in a Washington, DC federal court on Wednesday (Dec 17), Lam’s lawyer, John Patrick Pierce, said discussions with the government remain ongoing.
“We do want to give best efforts at a resolution, and I believe Mr Hart and I can do that in good faith,” Pierce said, referring to Assistant United States Attorney William Hart.
A motion was filed the day before Lam’s hearing for Hart to replace Assistant United States Attorney Kevin Rosenberg, who had overseen the sprawling case since its inception.
The details of the new offer for a plea deal, which the government put forward in mid-November, were not disclosed.
But both parties agreed to reconvene on Jan 12, 2026 at 9.30am (10.30pm, Singapore time) to update the court on the status of plea deal negotiations.
In the meantime, Pierce said he would move forward with procuring a court-approved computer so Lam can review the "unwieldy" amount of evidence in the case.
Since Lam’s last status hearing in November, the Court has unsealed a Second Superseding Indictment, which charges three additional defendants in the criminal enterprise, bringing the total to 17 individuals.
The Department of Justice has charged Nicholas Dellecave, Mustafa Ibrahim and Danish Zulfiqar with RICO conspiracy for their roles in the operation, which allegedly included database hacking and crypto laundering.
Dellecave was arrested in Miami on Dec 3, 2025, while Zulfiqar and Ibrahim were recently arrested in Dubai on related charges, said the DOJ.
The Second Superseding Indictment alleges that Lam, Danish and others collaborated on the enterprises’ most brazen heist: stealing more than 4,100 Bitcoins from a single victim in Washington in August of 2024. At the time, the Bitcoins were valued at more than US$230 million. This week, their value exceeds US$350 million.
Following the theft, the Department of Justice alleges that Lam and “his associates spent over US$4 million in stolen virtual currency at Los Angeles nightclubs”.
Prosecutors allege that Lam and some of his co-defendants formed a "Social Engineering Enterprise" in late 2023, born out of friendships formed in online gaming platforms.
According to prosecutors, they identified people with vast amounts of crypto, then duped them into handing over their account passwords, private keys and seed phrases by pretending to be support agents at Google or crypto exchanges.
Using that information, Lam and his associates allegedly accessed the victim's accounts, stole their virtual currencies, laundered them in offshore exchanges, and then converted them into hard cash.
Prosecutors allege that the enterprise stole more than US$265 million worth of cryptocurrency and spent lavish amounts of money on private jet rentals, luxury homes, exotic cars and nightclub services totalling more than US$4 million.
Nine of Lam’s co-conspirators have already pleaded guilty in the case, including most recently Evan Tangeman, 22, of Newport Beach, California, who admitted that he helped launder at least US$3.5 million for the group.
These co-conspirators could testify against Lam if his case goes to trial.
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At a status hearing in a Washington, DC federal court on Wednesday (Dec 17), Lam’s lawyer, John Patrick Pierce, said discussions with the government remain ongoing.
“We do want to give best efforts at a resolution, and I believe Mr Hart and I can do that in good faith,” Pierce said, referring to Assistant United States Attorney William Hart.
A motion was filed the day before Lam’s hearing for Hart to replace Assistant United States Attorney Kevin Rosenberg, who had overseen the sprawling case since its inception.
The details of the new offer for a plea deal, which the government put forward in mid-November, were not disclosed.
But both parties agreed to reconvene on Jan 12, 2026 at 9.30am (10.30pm, Singapore time) to update the court on the status of plea deal negotiations.
In the meantime, Pierce said he would move forward with procuring a court-approved computer so Lam can review the "unwieldy" amount of evidence in the case.
Related:
Since Lam’s last status hearing in November, the Court has unsealed a Second Superseding Indictment, which charges three additional defendants in the criminal enterprise, bringing the total to 17 individuals.
The Department of Justice has charged Nicholas Dellecave, Mustafa Ibrahim and Danish Zulfiqar with RICO conspiracy for their roles in the operation, which allegedly included database hacking and crypto laundering.
Dellecave was arrested in Miami on Dec 3, 2025, while Zulfiqar and Ibrahim were recently arrested in Dubai on related charges, said the DOJ.
The Second Superseding Indictment alleges that Lam, Danish and others collaborated on the enterprises’ most brazen heist: stealing more than 4,100 Bitcoins from a single victim in Washington in August of 2024. At the time, the Bitcoins were valued at more than US$230 million. This week, their value exceeds US$350 million.
Following the theft, the Department of Justice alleges that Lam and “his associates spent over US$4 million in stolen virtual currency at Los Angeles nightclubs”.
Prosecutors allege that Lam and some of his co-defendants formed a "Social Engineering Enterprise" in late 2023, born out of friendships formed in online gaming platforms.
According to prosecutors, they identified people with vast amounts of crypto, then duped them into handing over their account passwords, private keys and seed phrases by pretending to be support agents at Google or crypto exchanges.
Using that information, Lam and his associates allegedly accessed the victim's accounts, stole their virtual currencies, laundered them in offshore exchanges, and then converted them into hard cash.
Prosecutors allege that the enterprise stole more than US$265 million worth of cryptocurrency and spent lavish amounts of money on private jet rentals, luxury homes, exotic cars and nightclub services totalling more than US$4 million.
Nine of Lam’s co-conspirators have already pleaded guilty in the case, including most recently Evan Tangeman, 22, of Newport Beach, California, who admitted that he helped launder at least US$3.5 million for the group.
These co-conspirators could testify against Lam if his case goes to trial.
Related:
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