FBI Raids Miami Mansion Linked to $230 Million Crypto Theft
Earlier this week, the FBI raided a waterfront mansion in Miami and arrested one of two individuals in connection with a $230 million cryptocurrency scam. Malone Lam, 20, was arrested in Miami while his alleged coconspirator, Jeandiel Serrano, 21, was arrested in California at the same time and the two have been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money, according to the unsealed indictment. The two, along with other unnamed individuals, are accused of gaining access to other people’s cryptocurrencies and then transferring the proceeds to themselves via a complicated web of various cryptocurrencies and pass through wallets in an attempt to obfuscate the illegal origins of the cryptocurrency. According to the indictment, this past August they fraudulently obtained 4,100 bitcoins from an individual in Washington, which at that time was valued at roughly $230 million. The pair are alleged to have spent the ill-gotten gains on expensive house rentals, such as the one raided by the FBI, nightclubs, jewelry, luxury goods/bags and a fleet of luxury cars. As we have previously covered, there have been an increase in arrests and prosecutions of people over their cryptocurrency dealings/thefts, and law enforcement seems to be getting better at uncovering fraud and tracking down criminals through the blockchain transactions which leave a permanent record.
Judge Denies Lifting House Arrest of Digital Wallet App Founder
Recently, a judge in the Southern District of New York denied the request of Keonne Rodriguez, one of the founders of the app Samourai Wallet, that he be taken off pretrial house arrest after prosecutors presented evidence in court of a “bug out prep” plan they had uncovered by the defendant. The detailed plan included handwritten notes that he packed passports, $10,000 cash, a burner phone and laptop, encrypted USB sticks and mnemonic seed phrases securing “as much Bitcoin as possible” and a plan to travel to either Cuba or the UK with minimal stops at “shitty gas stations.” Rodriguez and his co-founder, William Lonergan Hill, were arrested this past April and charged with operating an unlicensed money transmitter through their Samourai Wallet app that enables users to privately store Bitcoin, while also making the tracing the movements of said cryptocurrency harder to outside parties. Prosecutors alleged in a press release that the app functions as, “a cryptocurrency mixer that executed over $2 billion in unlawful transactions and facilitated more than $100 million in money laundering transactions from illegal dark web markets.” The arrest was denounced by some lawmakers as overreach, but it is clear that those who are engaged in the cryptocurrency industry have gotten the full attention of the federal government and that they are not afraid to bring charges against individuals who they believe have broken the law in this evolving, fast-paced industry.
