PANews reported on May 17 that according to a New Zealand police announcement, a Wellington man was arrested in Auckland on suspicion of participating in a global cryptocurrency fraud operation led by the FBI. The criminal group stole $265 million (NZ$450 million) worth of cryptocurrency from seven victims and then laundered the money through multiple platforms between March and August 2024.
New Zealand police said search warrants had been executed in Auckland, Wellington and California over the past three days, arresting several people, including one in New Zealand. A total of 13 people face charges. The U.S. Department of Justice has filed an indictment against the Wellington man under U.S. federal law, charging him with racketeering conspiracy (RICO), conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The man appeared in the Auckland District Court today and was temporarily banned from revealing his name. He has been granted bail. He will appear in the Auckland District Court again on July 3, 2025.
Earlier news , the U.S. Department of Justice sued 12 suspects for $263 million in cryptocurrency crimes, accusing them of participating in a criminal network organized by the main culprit Malone Lam. The gang committed crimes through social engineering fraud, database intrusion and physical theft of hardware wallets. Lam was personally accused of a single fraud of $230 million. Currently, 10 defendants have been arrested and two accomplices in Dubai are still at large. The indictment shows that the gang's division of labor includes target screening, telephone fraud, money laundering and field theft. Lam once remotely monitored the victim's iCloud data and directed his accomplices to burglarize. Records in August 2024 show that the gang stole 4,100 bitcoins (worth $385.4 million at the time) through P2P fraud.
