Newport Beach Man Sentenced to 70 Months for Laundering Proceeds of a $263 Million Cryptocurrency Theft Ring
On April 24, 2026, Evan Tangeman, 22, of Newport Beach in Orange County, California, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., to 70 months in prison plus three years of supervised release for laundering money for a multi-state criminal enterprise that stole more than $263 million in cryptocurrency through social engineering.
Tangeman pleaded guilty on December 8, 2025, to participating in a RICO conspiracy, the ninth plea to result from the investigation. He admitted helping to launder at least $3.5 million for members of the enterprise.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the enterprise formed by October 2023 and ran through at least May 2025, growing out of friendships made on online gaming platforms. Its members, many of them under 20, were based in California, Connecticut, New York, Florida, and abroad. Stolen virtual currency paid for nightclub services of up to $500,000 an evening, a fleet of exotic cars worth $100,000 to $3.8 million each, and rental homes in Los Angeles, the Hamptons, and Miami costing $40,000 to $80,000 a month.
Tangeman converted stolen cryptocurrency into cash and worked with Los Angeles real estate agents to procure mansions for the group, later arranging rental homes in Miami as well. After the first members of the enterprise were arrested, he directed a co-defendant to destroy digital devices belonging to members of the group. Agents searching his Newport Beach residence seized a 2022 Rolls-Royce Ghost valued at more than $300,000 and a Porsche GT3 RS; the enterprise had earlier arranged the purchase of a Lamborghini Urus for him.
The case was investigated by the FBI's Washington Field Office and IRS Criminal Investigation. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro announced the sentence, imposed by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于华盛顿的美国司法部总部罗伯特·肯尼迪大楼（资料照片），本案由司法部哥伦比亚特区联邦检察官办公室起诉。联邦固定图库 fed-doj-building.jpg，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building in Washington (file photo); the case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. GSM federal fixed library, via Wikimedia Commons.
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- 2026-04-24Newport Beach Man Sentenced to 70 Months for Laundering Proceeds of a $263 Million Cryptocurrency Theft RingThis story
