Singapore national to face trial in connection to $240M crypto heist

Singapore national Malone Lam Yu Xuan will face trial in connection to a Bitcoin heist worth $240 million (S$320 million). According to authorities, the Bitcoin heist remains, to this day, one of the biggest in the history of the country.

According to reports, Malone Lam Yu Xuan went from being a student in a secondary school in Choa Chu Kang, Singapore to being seen as a crypto whizz-kid by some in the United States in 2023. In that period, he had a mansion, a fleet of expensive cars, luxury clothes, and other assets that rivaled some of the top celebrities globally.

According to investigators, the Singapore student was living off the millions stolen from several investors. The statement to investigators was before August 2024, when Lam was said to have joined some co-conspirators to commit one of the biggest thefts in the history of the United States.

Singapore student to face trial for crypto theft

According to court documents, Lam had been living in the United States on an expired visa, with the student turning 20 last year. The documents mentioned that Lam, a teenager at the time, pocketed millions from the theft, splashing some on himself and some of his friends. The filing mentioned that he purchased and gifted one Jeandiel Serrano a 2023 Ferrari FS and a 2024 Mercedes SL.

A year after he bought the luxury vehicles, Lam and Serrano were accused of a Bitcoin theft that involved a single victim between August 18 and 19. The pair stole about 4,100 Bitcoins from their victim. Presently, Lam is facing two counts of indictment in the District of Columbia for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. Each of the charges he’s accused carries a maximum term of 20 years.

According to checks carried out by authorities, Lam started attending Unity Secondary School in 2017 but left after a while. He told United States authorities that he had dropped out of school when he was around 13 years old. Lam was an active member of the gaming community, using the moniker ‘Greavys’ in Minecraft. He also used other monikers like ‘Anne Hathaway’ and ‘Malone’ on other gaming platforms, including Discord.

United States authorities’ investigation uncovers atrocities

According to reports, Lam moved to the United States in October 2023 but had already forged a friendship with Serrano, an American citizen, before then. The pair were notorious in the online gaming community, with users accusing them of looting or stealing players’ accounts to sell for cash. United States authorities mentioned that Lam entered the country through a visa waiver program, which allows individuals from about 42 countries, including Singapore to enter the US for 90 days for business or leisure.

His visa expired in January 2024, but he continued to live in the country illegally. Authorities mentioned that he spent time in Texas and Los Angeles, and also traveled to Canada at some point. While he was in the US, the Singapore native developed an interest in the flashy lifestyle, flaunting expensive cars, clothes, mansions, and even holding big parties where they spent recklessly. He told the court he was into crypto, but documents showed he got rich by hacking and stealing digital assets.

During his first hearing in September 2024 at the district court in South Florida, United States prosecutor Jonathan Stratton said Lam was a “sophisticated crypto fraudster.” He argued against granting him bail, noting that the Singaporean presented two dangers. Stratton mentioned that he was a very sophisticated crypto fraudster, telling the court that he orchestrated one of the biggest crypto hacks in the country.

“He can do those kinds of hacking from anywhere, and there is no reasonable combination of conditions that pre-trial services can implement that will prevent his ability to further exploit crypto investors throughout the country,” Stratton said. He added that Lam can hide electronic evidence, noting that he obstructed justice by deleting his Telegram account after he was tipped off by the co-conspirator’s girlfriend.

According to investigators, the case started to come together when they identified Serrano. He was arrested at the Los Angeles airport in September 2024 after returning from a holiday in the company of his girlfriend. After she was interviewed by the authorities, the girlfriend tipped off Lam. Authorities apprehended the Singaporean as he was trying to flee. He has been held in detention since his arrest, with the prosecutors noting that Lam is a flight risk.

Investigators tracked Lam’s affluent lifestyle

After his arrest, Lam told United States investigators that he was involved in several crypto scams, making millions from his activities. He said he used the stolen money to fund his affluent lifestyle. In his statement, the Singaporean said he, Serrano, and other accomplices hit the jackpot in August 2024, dividing the proceeds from the crime among themselves.

Using his portion of the loot, Lam amassed 31 luxury vehicles, including a Pagani Huayra worth $3.8 million, a Lamborghini Revuelto worth $1 million, and custom Porsches and Ferraris. United States authorities confirmed that 22 luxury vehicles belonging to Lam are yet to be located, including a white Lamborghini that had his name on it.

Aside from luxury cars, the Singapore national rented multiple mansions, with one in Miami where he paid $68,000 monthly on one residence. He also acquired luxury watches, purchasing one of the watches for about $1.8 million. Prosecutors mentioned that the Singapore national was very popular in the Los Angeles nightlife scenes because of the bottle services he demanded. He also gave out handbags to strangers, with several influencers creating videos to detail how he had given them bags from French fashion company Hermes.

In September 2024, social media influencer Skylar Harrison posted a video on TikTok detailing how she was invited into Lam’s entourage after she ran into him at a club called Keys. She mentioned that she was offered a Hermes bag just to join him at the section he was in. She added that he purchased $100,000 worth of alcoholic drinks in about 10 minutes after he met her. She mentioned that he told her he was the son of a Chinese billionaire.

According to investigations, he spent over $500,000 at nightclubs every night for a week and tried to pay in cryptocurrency in some instances. The flashy lifestyle contributed to his downfall, as investigators were looking for him and found his name on a banner at a club where he splurged hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Singaporean’s spending spree was so rife that social media platforms had many videos of him in designer clothes partying.

The Singaporean national is presently being held in Virginia, with his lawyer Scott Armstrong noting that his trial will take place in October 2025. The lawyer said Lam wants to file other legal attacks, with most of them being suppressive motions that require the US government to provide meaningful discovery in the case against him. He also said Lam is calling for the search warrant affidavits and reports relevant to the searches that were carried out in his case. Prosecutors have mentioned that Lam may be looking at between 168 and 210 months in jail because of the gravity of the theft, with about $100 million in stolen Bitcoin still missing.

Cryptopolitan Academy: Want to grow your money in 2025? Learn how to do it with DeFi in our upcoming webclass. Save Your Spot