DOJ finds California man guilty of $263M crypto heist
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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced the ninth guilty plea in a sprawling crypto money-laundering case that saw more than $263 million in Bitcoin (BTC) drained from a single Washington, D.C. victim and hundreds of millions more stolen nationwide.
According to a Dec. 8 statement, 22-year-old California resident Evan Tangeman pleaded guilty in a federal court in Washington, D.C., to racketeering conspiracy charges linked to a cybercrime group prosecutors call the “Social Engineering Enterprise,” or SE Enterprise.
Tangeman admitted to helping launder at least $3.5 million in stolen crypto on behalf of the group. U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly scheduled his sentencing for Apr. 24, 2026.
Online gaming to crypto heists
The indictment alleges SE Enterprise began operations in October 2023 and continued through at least May 2025.
Members were based in California, Connecticut, New York, Florida, and abroad, and split into specialized roles including database hackers, organizers, “callers” impersonating exchange support staff, and residential burglars who targeted victims’ hardware wallets.
The group allegedly evolved from friendships formed on online gaming platforms and later developed a structured hierarchy.
Tangeman’s role included converting stolen Bitcoin into fiat currency, arranging luxury rentals under fake identities, and securing roughly $3 million in cash for ringleader Malone Lam immediately after the heist.
He also monitored home-security footage during an FBI raid on Lam’s Miami residence and later instructed another group member to destroy digital devices to obstruct investigators.
Court filings allege that members of the group used stolen databases to identify high-value crypto holders and then tricked victims into handing over access credentials.
One of the group’s most significant heists involved more than 4,100 BTC, worth $263 million at the time and now valued at over $370 million, stolen from a Washington, D.C. victim.
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Group faces RICO
The DOJ has charged the group under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
The RICO Act is a U.S. federal law enacted in 1970 as part of the Organized Crime Control Act. It was originally designed to combat organized crime syndicates like the mafia. Today, it’s used much more broadly, including in cases involving fraud, money laundering, cybercrime, and even crypto-related offenses.
The stolen cryptocurrency funded a lavish lifestyle, including nightclub tabs of up to $500,000 per night, luxury handbags worth tens of thousands of dollars, watches valued between $100,000 and $500,000, designer clothing, private jets, rental homes in Los Angeles, the Hamptons, and Miami, a private security team, and a fleet of at least 28 exotic cars worth between $100,000 and $3.8 million.
Authorities arrested alleged ringleader Lam and co-defendant Jeandiel Serrano last September after investigators, aided by blockchain sleuth ZachXBT, tracked the stolen crypto through mixers and layered “peel chain” transactions.
Alongside Tangeman’s plea, prosecutors unsealed a second superseding indictment adding three more defendants: Nicholas “Nic” or “Souja” Dellecave, Mustafa “Krust” Ibrahim, and Danish “Danny” or “Meech” Zulfiqar. All face RICO conspiracy charges.
