California money launderer sentenced in D.C. to 70 months for role in scheme that stole $263 million

Date: April 24, 2026

Contact: [email protected]

WASHINGTON - Evan Tangeman of Newport Beach, California, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 70 months in prison for laundering millions of dollars generated by an elaborate social engineering scheme orchestrated by a multi-state criminal enterprise that stole more than $263 million in cryptocurrency and used the proceeds to support the criminal enterprise's fantastically extravagant lifestyles, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.

"This criminal enterprise was built on greed so brazen it borders on the cartoonish. They stole millions, spent it on half-million-dollar nightclub tabs, Lamborghinis, and Rolexes," said U.S. Attorney Pirro. "But Evan Tangeman didn't just launder the money that fueled that lifestyle. When his co-conspirators were arrested, he moved to destroy the evidence. That is consciousness of guilt, and this office and the court have treated that accordingly."

Tangeman pleaded guilty Dec. 8, 2025, 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. Tangeman's admission of guilt was the ninth plea to result from this investigation. In addition to the 70-month prison sentence, Judge Kollar-Kotelly ordered Tangeman to serve three years of supervised release.

The criminal 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, aka "E," "Tate," "Evan|Exchanger," was a money launderer for the group that also included database hackers, organizers, target identifiers, callers, and residential burglars targeting hardware virtual currency wallets.

Tangeman not only enabled his co-conspirators to dissipate millions in victim funds but also benefited directly and indirectly from the thefts himself, including receiving exotic automobiles as compensation for his work and using commissions earned for laundering on luxury goods. Finally, when the first members of the criminal enterprise - co-defendants Malone Lam and Jeandiel Serrano - were arrested and the massive scale of their fraud revealed, it was Tangeman who took it upon himself to direct co-defendant Tucker Desmond to destroy digital devices belonging to members of the enterprise.

Members and associates of the social engineering enterprise used 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 which were given away at nightclub parties, luxury watches valued between $100,000 up to over $500,000, luxury clothing valued in the tens of thousands of dollars, rental homes in Los Angeles, the Hamptons, and Miami, private jet rentals for travel, a team of private security guards, and a fleet of exotic cars, ranging in value from $100,000 up to $3,800,000.

Tangeman converted the stolen cryptocurrency into fiat cash and worked with real estate agents in Los Angeles to procure large mansions for members of the social engineering enterprise. The members were unemployed young men, often under 20 years old and did not want to draw law enforcement attention for renting homes for $40,000 to $80,000 per month with no legitimate source of income. Some of those homes were valued between $4,000,000 up to nearly $9,000,000. Tangeman also arranged for rental homes in Miami when the group moved to Miami in September 2024.

Tangeman was well rewarded for his criminal conduct. Co-defendant Lam arranged for the purchase of a widebody Lamborghini Urus for Tangeman. At the time of the execution of the search warrant on Tangeman's residence, law enforcement identified and seized additional vehicles, including one black 2022 Rolls Royce Ghost, valued at more than $300,000. The agents also seized a white and black Porsche GT3 RS.

This case is being investigated by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, the IRS-Criminal Investigation Washington D.C. Field Office, and the FBI's Washington 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 U.S. Attorney Will Hart of the Fraud, Public Corruption, and Civil Rights Section of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Rosenberg provided valuable assistance.

IRS-CI is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. It is the only federal law enforcement agency with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. IRS-CI has 18 field offices located across the U.S. and maintains an international presence through attaché posts abroad.