Six Years for $236M in Bitcoin? The Blazing Loot of Quick Crypto Riches

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The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia twirled into the room with a gobstopper of a tale: a slippery chap named Evan Tangeman was handed six years in prison for laundering millions stolen through a glittering social-engineering hoax. The whole carnival of crime gulped up more than $263 million in Bitcoin.

A Six-Year Spell for a Bitcoin Caper

The press release buzzed that Tangeman pleaded guilty to taking part in a RICO conspiracy and confessed to helping launder at least $3.5 million of the stolen Bitcoin for members of the gang. In addition to the six-year sentence, the judge also ordered three years of supervised release, just to keep him company on the outside world’s cobblestones.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, with a twinkle of sternness and a pinch of scolding, said Tangeman didn’t merely launder the money for the criminal enterprise but also tried to wipe away the footprints when his co-conspirators were nabbed. “That is consciousness of guilt,” she hissed, and the court agreed to lend its ear to that snappy logic.

The prosecutors stated that Tangeman pleaded guilty to participating in a RICO conspiracy before the court and admitted that he helped to launder at least $3.5 million of the stolen Bitcoin for members of the enterprise. In addition to the six-year sentence, the court also sentenced the defendant to serve three years of supervised release.

Meanwhile, the USAO revealed that the criminal enterprise began no later than October 2023 and continued through at least May 2025. The group is said to have comprised mischief-makers based in California, Connecticut, New York, and abroad. Besides Tangeman, the money launderer, the crew included database hackers, organizers, target identifiers, callers, and residential burglars who prowled for Bitcoin wallets.

In laundering the stolen Bitcoin, Tangeman was responsible for turning crypto into cold, hard cash and even teamed up with Los Angeles real estate agents to snap up large mansions for members of the mischief.

DOJ’s Scam Center Strike Force Snatches $700 Million in Crypto

As part of the crackdown on crypto crimes, the USAO announced that it has seized over $700 million in Bitcoin, allegedly tied to money laundering from crypto scams. This comes amid a broader effort by the DOJ’s Strike Force to sniff out funds laundered by scam centers and to seize and forfeit them.

Meanwhile, the DOJ had announced that the Scam Center Strike Force carried out coordinated actions against Southeast Asian criminal outfits operating scam centers that have defrauded Americans of billions. As part of the action, they charged two Chinese nationals who managed a compound for crypto investment fraud in Burma. The Strike Force also seized over $63 million from these Chinese nationals, which brought the Force’s tally for seizures up to the $700 million mark.

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2026-04-28 18:12