The Tool Desk
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Who was arrested in the alleged Bitcoin scheme?
In a September 19, 2024 announcement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said Lam and Serrano had been arrested and charged under an indictment with conspiracy to steal and launder cryptocurrency. The victim was not named in the announcement, which also did not provide a first-person account.
An indictment is an accusation. As DOJ stated, “An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.” Read the DOJ’s September 19, 2024 announcement.
How did prosecutors say the theft happened?
According to the indictment as summarized by DOJ, the alleged theft took place on August 18, 2024. The defendants and others allegedly contacted the victim, fraudulently gained access to cryptocurrency accounts, and obtained more than 4,100 bitcoin. Prosecutors said the group then transferred victims’ funds into its possession.
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DOJ said the alleged proceeds were moved through cryptocurrency exchanges and mixing services. Prosecutors also described the use of peel chains, pass-through wallets, and virtual private networks to obscure identities. These are claims in the indictment, not established findings about what the defendants did.
What does the $230 million figure mean?
The figure refers to DOJ’s valuation of the more than 4,100 bitcoin allegedly taken in the August 18, 2024 incident: over $230 million at the time. It is not a statement of the bitcoin’s present value, which can change with the market.
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How does the later $263 million case update relate?
On May 15, 2025, DOJ announced a superseding indictment charging 12 additional people in a broader alleged cyber-enabled racketeering conspiracy. Prosecutors said the wider enterprise began no later than October 2023 and continued through March 2025, with alleged roles ranging from database hackers and target identifiers to callers, organizers, money launderers, and residential burglars.
DOJ described the August 2024 theft as one episode in that broader case. Its more-than-$263-million figure concerns alleged proceeds of the broader conspiracy, not the single incident valued at more than $230 million in 2024. The update also alleged that some enterprise members burglarized homes to target hardware virtual currency wallets. That is a separate alleged tactic from the account-contact and access method described for the August theft; the announcements do not establish that a hardware wallet would have prevented that incident. Read DOJ’s May 15, 2025 update.
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