U.S. prosecutors have revealed that two young men, accused of orchestrating one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in U.S. history, went on a massive spending spree following the theft of $230 million in bitcoin. According to court documents, Malone Lam, 20, and Jeandiel Serrano, 21, used the stolen funds to purchase luxury cars and a $2 million watch, in addition to racking up nightclub tabs totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Aug. 18 cyber heist targeted a Washington D.C. resident, and at least $100 million of the stolen bitcoin remains unaccounted for, prosecutors disclosed in a District of Columbia federal court filing. Authorities believe this cryptocurrency theft might be linked to another crime: the Aug. 25 kidnapping of a Connecticut couple. The couple, who were abducted while driving a rented Lamborghini, may have been targeted because their son allegedly had access to cryptocurrency.

The suspects “planned to kidnap the victims” and then “demand payment in the form of digital currency from the son of [the couple] in return for the safety,” according to the indictment against six Florida men charged in connection with the kidnapping. Detective Sgt. Steven Castrovinci of the Danbury Police Department commented on the unusual nature of the case, telling CNBC:

I’ve never seen anything like this in 20 years … It’s amazing to see how this thing has grown legs.

Lam and Serrano, arrested in September, admitted to using sophisticated social engineering tactics to manipulate their victim. They posed as personnel from Google and crypto exchange Gemini, convincing the victim to grant them access to his Google Drive, which contained information about his cryptocurrency holdings. “Serrano was eventually able to manipulate the victim into opening files with private keys to over 4,100 bitcoin,” the filing detailed. The stolen bitcoin was then split among the conspirators.

The lavish spending by Lam and Serrano following the theft caught the attention of law enforcement. Lam, arrested in Miami after flying in on a private jet, had rented multiple luxury homes and admitted to purchasing 31 luxury cars, though many remain missing. Serrano, arrested in Los Angeles upon returning from the Maldives, had $20 million in stolen bitcoin on his phone, which he later agreed to return to the FBI. Despite these arrests, over $100 million of the stolen cryptocurrency remains missing, with federal authorities continuing to investigate the case.

Prosecutors described the theft as:

One of the largest cryptocurrency thefts from a private individual … in the history of the United States.

免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。