PANews reported on December 9th that, according to The Block, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today that a key figure in a $263 million social engineering scam has pleaded guilty. Evan Tangeman, a 22-year-old California resident, admitted before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to participating in a conspiracy under the Anti-Extortion and Bribery Organizations Act, laundering over $3.5 million for the scam. The statement noted that Tangeman is the ninth defendant to plead guilty in the investigation. This social engineering scam was carried out between October 2023 and May 2025. The criminal group initially consisted of a network of online gaming platform friends scattered across California, Connecticut, New York, Florida, and overseas. The scam stole approximately 4,100 bitcoins, worth $263 million at the time; these bitcoins are now worth $371 million. The group comprised hackers, organizers, target identifyrs, phone scammers, and residential burglars targeting hardware wallets, who used the stolen databases to pinpoint targets. Hackers breached websites and servers to obtain cryptocurrency-related databases, which the target identifyrs then used to identify the most valuable targets. Tangeman's sentencing date is set for April 24, 2026. Previously, it was reported that U.S. man Kunal Mehta pleaded guilty to helping launder $263 million in cryptocurrency assets and had purchased 28 luxury cars for his gang.PANews reported on December 9th that, according to The Block, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today that a key figure in a $263 million social engineering scam has pleaded guilty. Evan Tangeman, a 22-year-old California resident, admitted before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to participating in a conspiracy under the Anti-Extortion and Bribery Organizations Act, laundering over $3.5 million for the scam. The statement noted that Tangeman is the ninth defendant to plead guilty in the investigation. This social engineering scam was carried out between October 2023 and May 2025. The criminal group initially consisted of a network of online gaming platform friends scattered across California, Connecticut, New York, Florida, and overseas. The scam stole approximately 4,100 bitcoins, worth $263 million at the time; these bitcoins are now worth $371 million. The group comprised hackers, organizers, target identifyrs, phone scammers, and residential burglars targeting hardware wallets, who used the stolen databases to pinpoint targets. Hackers breached websites and servers to obtain cryptocurrency-related databases, which the target identifyrs then used to identify the most valuable targets. Tangeman's sentencing date is set for April 24, 2026. Previously, it was reported that U.S. man Kunal Mehta pleaded guilty to helping launder $263 million in cryptocurrency assets and had purchased 28 luxury cars for his gang.
Evan Tangeman, another key figure in a US cryptocurrency money laundering case involving $263 million, has pleaded guilty.
PANews reported on December 9th that, according to The Block, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today that a key figure in a $263 million social engineering scam has pleaded guilty. Evan Tangeman, a 22-year-old California resident, admitted before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to participating in a conspiracy under the Anti-Extortion and Bribery Organizations Act, laundering over $3.5 million for the scam. The statement noted that Tangeman is the ninth defendant to plead guilty in the investigation.
This social engineering scam was carried out between October 2023 and May 2025. The criminal group initially consisted of a network of online gaming platform friends scattered across California, Connecticut, New York, Florida, and overseas. The scam stole approximately 4,100 bitcoins, worth $263 million at the time; these bitcoins are now worth $371 million. The group comprised hackers, organizers, target identifyrs, phone scammers, and residential burglars targeting hardware wallets, who used the stolen databases to pinpoint targets. Hackers breached websites and servers to obtain cryptocurrency-related databases, which the target identifyrs then used to identify the most valuable targets. Tangeman's sentencing date is set for April 24, 2026.
Previously, it was reported that U.S. man Kunal Mehta pleaded guilty to helping launder $263 million in cryptocurrency assets and had purchased 28 luxury cars for his gang.
Disclaimer: The articles reposted on this site are sourced from public platforms and are provided for informational purposes only. They do not necessarily reflect the views of MEXC. All rights remain with the original authors. If you believe any content infringes on third-party rights, please contact service@support.mexc.com for removal. MEXC makes no guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the content and is not responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided. The content does not constitute financial, legal, or other professional advice, nor should it be considered a recommendation or endorsement by MEXC.
You May Also Like
The Rise of SASE: Engineering the Future of Cloud-Delivered Security
The global network perimeter has changed beyond recognition. What once centered on office-based traffic optimization has been redefined by cloud-first workloads and a distributed workforce. As enterprises moved mission-critical applications to the cloud, attackers followed suit, thereby targeting the gaps left behind by legacy models. Analysts forecast that the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) market […] The post The Rise of SASE: Engineering the Future of Cloud-Delivered Security appeared first on TechBullion.
Share
Techbullion2025/12/09 14:09
Tether invests $81.6M in Italian Humanoid-Robotics firm as AI push accelerates
The post Tether invests $81.6M in Italian Humanoid-Robotics firm as AI push accelerates appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Tether, known as the issuer of the stablecoin USDT, has made a major foray into robotics and physical AI by backing Europe’s up‑and‑coming humanoid robotics firm Generative Bionics with a contribution to a €70 million (approx. $81.6 million) funding round. Notably, this startup develops industrial robots utilizing research from the Italian Institute of Technology. This funding round was led by CDP Venture Capital, a company supported by the Italian government and operating through its Artificial Intelligence Fund. This information was made public following the release of Generative Bionics’s statement, shared by a reliable source. Some of the firms that participated in this round, apart from Tether, included AMD Ventures, the investment arm of the American chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices, and other industry investors. Tether aims to solidify its position as a leader with major investments in AI Tether’s investment marks another significant milestone in the company’s ongoing series of deals. Concerning its role in issuing the USDT stablecoin, sources acknowledged that stablecoins, cryptocurrencies that are typically connected to traditional currencies such as the dollar, have recently gained popularity, preferred by many as a suitable alternative method of payment. These sources also elaborated that this type of cryptocurrency usually relies on cash reserves and US government bonds issued on a short-term basis to maintain its value. Following this finding, Tether shared its forecast that the reserves supporting USDT will help it in attaining its target of generating approximately $15 billion in profit this year. The company made this prediction after noting high interest rates in the sector. Based in El Salvador, Tether has been utilizing these profits to expand its presence in various fields, including commodities, artificial intelligence, and sports. The firm also disclosed its growing interest in fields of AI and data. According to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tether, Paolo…
Share
BitcoinEthereumNews2025/12/09 13:51
Why Washington now eyes BTC miners
The post Why Washington now eyes BTC miners appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Homepage > News > Business > The shadow over Bitmain: Why Washington now eyes BTC miners For years, most BTC holders didn’t think twice about where their mining equipment came from. Bitmain—this massive Beijing-based manufacturer—just kept shipping Antminers to warehouses in Texas, Kazakhstan, Paraguay, wherever. As long as the rigs worked and the hash rate kept climbing, nobody really cared. That casual attitude died this month when the U.S. government launched a national-security investigation into Bitmain and its stranglehold on global mining hardware. They’re calling it Operation Red Sunset, which should tell you how seriously they’re taking this. Here’s what has Washington spooked: Bitmain controls approximately 80% of the world’s Bitcoin mining equipment. And basically every modern Antminer can be accessed remotely through firmware updates. Theoretically, one command pushed from their headquarters in China could throttle, redirect, or completely brick a huge chunk of the BTC network’s processing power. Intelligence officials worry that Beijing could exploit that access directly, or force Bitmain to do it during some future crisis—Taiwan keeps coming up in these conversations. Making things messier, one of Bitmain’s biggest recent customers is American Bitcoin, a mining operation backed by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. So yeah, that’s added some urgency to the whole thing. American Bitcoin ordered 16,000 high-end rigs earlier this year for a new facility somewhere in the Midwest. The irony isn’t subtle: a company connected to the incoming first family is now at the center of an investigation designed to reduce foreign control over critical U.S. infrastructure. From what I’m hearing, investigators are especially interested in whether those machines have hidden backdoors or telemetry channels that Beijing could flip on without anyone knowing. Bitmain claims that its remote-management tools are solely for customer support and monitoring efficiency. They insist that no government has…
Share
BitcoinEthereumNews2025/12/09 14:02