The Crypto Heist That Fueled a Life of Luxury

A young man from Newport Beach, California, has admitted his part in a big crypto theft. Evan Tangeman is one of nine people who have confessed to being involved in this crime. This group, called the Social Engineering Enterprise (SE Enterprise), stole around $263 million in cryptocurrency. The group started as friends who met while playing online games. They turned their friendships into a criminal operation. Some members hacked databases to find rich crypto investors. Others, called “callers, ” tricked victims into giving up their login details by pretending to be security staff from crypto exchanges or email providers. The group also had money launderers and burglars. The burglars would break into victims' homes to steal hardware wallets. These wallets contained the keys to unlock large amounts of cryptocurrency. The biggest theft happened on August 18, 2024. The gang tricked a victim in Washington, DC, into transferring over 4, 100 Bitcoin, worth about $263 million at the time. Evan Tangeman admitted to laundering $3. 5 million worth of stolen cryptocurrency. The money from these thefts funded a very extravagant lifestyle. The group rented luxury homes in Los Angeles and Miami under fake names. They spent up to half a million dollars in a single night at nightclubs. They also bought exotic cars worth up to $3. 8 million, flew on private jets, and hired personal security guards. After the leader, Malone Lam, was arrested in September 2024, Tangeman accessed home security systems to take pictures of FBI agents searching properties. He also asked another member to retrieve and destroy digital devices from Lam’s home in Los Angeles. Along with Tangeman’s guilty plea, prosecutors have charged three more alleged members of SE Enterprise, including Danish Zulfiqar, who was recently arrested in Dubai. Tangeman is scheduled to be sentenced on April 24, 2026. For all their supposed sophistication, the downfall of the SE Enterprise gang’s members was perhaps inevitable. When you spend half a million dollars in a single night at a nightclub, purchase exotic cars worth millions, and rent mansions under false names, you are risking drawing attention to yourself. In the end, the SE Enterprise’s lavish spending spree turned out to be their undoing.