Guilty Plea and Superseding Indictment Announced in Social Engineering Scheme that Stole $263 Million in Cryptocurrency

WASHINGTON - Evan Tangeman, 22, of Newport Beach, California, pleaded guilty today in connection with his role in a multi-state conspiracy that used social engineering to steal hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency from victims throughout the United States, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.

Tangeman is the ninth defendant to enter a guilty plea in this investigation. Tangeman pleaded to participating in a RICO conspiracy before U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly and admitted that he helped to launder at least $3.5 million for members of the enterprise.

Judge Kollar-Kotelly scheduled sentencing for April 24, 2026.

The Court also unsealed the Second Superseding Indictment, which charges three additional defendants with their roles in the Social Engineering Enterprise (SE Enterprise). Nicholas Dellecave, also known as "Nic," and "Souja," Mustafa Ibrahim, also known as "Krust," and Danish Zulfiqar, also known as "Danny," and "Meech," were all charged with RICO conspiracy along with the remaining defendants. Dellecave was arrested in Miami on Dec.3, 2025. Zulfiqar and Ibrahim recently were arrested in Dubai on related charges.

According to the Second Superseding Indictment, the enterprise began no later than October 2023 and continued through at least May 2025. It grew from friendships developed on online gaming platforms and was comprised of individuals based in California, Connecticut, New York, Florida, and abroad.

Tangeman was a money launderer for the group that also included database hackers, organizers, target identifiers, callers, and residential burglars targeting hardware virtual currency wallets.

According to court documents, members of the enterprise used stolen databases to target victims for cryptocurrency thefts. They then used the stolen virtual currency to purchase, among other things, nightclub services ranging up to $500,000 per evening, luxury handbags valued in the tens of thousands of dollars that were given away at nightclub parties, luxury watches valued between $100,000 and $500,000, luxury clothing valued in the tens of thousands of dollars, rental homes in Los Angeles, the Hamptons, and Miami, private jet rentals, a team of private security guards, and a fleet of at least 28 exotic cars ranging in value from $100,000 to $3.8 million.

The Second Superseding Indictment alleges that on Aug. 18, 2024, Tangeman's co-conspirator Malone Lam, Danish Zulfiqar, and others contacted a victim in the District of Columbia and, through communications with that victim, fraudulently obtained over 4,100 Bitcoin - valued then at $263 million, and valued this week at more than $368 million.

Tangeman first met the members of the in late 2023 when Lam and others moved to Los Angeles and needed assistance finding rental homes and paying for them with stolen cryptocurrency. Tangeman used a bulk-cash convertor to exchange stolen cryptocurrency for fiat cash to obtain rental homes, some renting for between $40,000 - $80,000 per month. Tangeman also caused false names to be listed on the leases to conceal the ownership of the homes. Tangeman rented homes for the group in Miami as well. During one exchange in August 2024, after the theft from the DC victim, Tangeman helped Lam obtain approximately $3 million in fiat cash in exchange for stolen cryptocurrency for a rental home.

Following Lam's Miami arrest on Sept. 18, 2024, Tangeman accessed the home security systems to take screenshots of FBI agents searching the residences. Tangeman also asked another enterprise member to travel to Lam's Los Angeles home, retrieve digital devices, and destroy them.

This case is being investigated by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, the FBI's Washington Field Office, and the IRS-Criminal Investigation Washington D.C. Field Office. Significant investigative and operational support was provided by the FBI's Los Angeles and Miami field offices as well as the United States Attorney's Officers in the Central District of California, Southern District of Florida, and the District of New Jersey.

The matter is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin Rosenberg, Co-Chief of the Fraud, Public Corruption, and Civil Rights Section of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.

24cr417