PANews reported on December 9th that, according to The Block, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today that a key figure in a $263 million social engineering scam has pleaded guilty. Evan Tangeman, a 22-year-old California resident, admitted before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to participating in a conspiracy under the Anti-Extortion and Bribery Organizations Act, laundering over $3.5 million for the scam. The statement noted that Tangeman is the ninth defendant to plead guilty in the investigation. This social engineering scam was carried out between October 2023 and May 2025. The criminal group initially consisted of a network of online gaming platform friends scattered across California, Connecticut, New York, Florida, and overseas. The scam stole approximately 4,100 bitcoins, worth $263 million at the time; these bitcoins are now worth $371 million. The group comprised hackers, organizers, target identifyrs, phone scammers, and residential burglars targeting hardware wallets, who used the stolen databases to pinpoint targets. Hackers breached websites and servers to obtain cryptocurrency-related databases, which the target identifyrs then used to identify the most valuable targets. Tangeman's sentencing date is set for April 24, 2026. Previously, it was reported that U.S. man Kunal Mehta pleaded guilty to helping launder $263 million in cryptocurrency assets and had purchased 28 luxury cars for his gang.PANews reported on December 9th that, according to The Block, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today that a key figure in a $263 million social engineering scam has pleaded guilty. Evan Tangeman, a 22-year-old California resident, admitted before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to participating in a conspiracy under the Anti-Extortion and Bribery Organizations Act, laundering over $3.5 million for the scam. The statement noted that Tangeman is the ninth defendant to plead guilty in the investigation. This social engineering scam was carried out between October 2023 and May 2025. The criminal group initially consisted of a network of online gaming platform friends scattered across California, Connecticut, New York, Florida, and overseas. The scam stole approximately 4,100 bitcoins, worth $263 million at the time; these bitcoins are now worth $371 million. The group comprised hackers, organizers, target identifyrs, phone scammers, and residential burglars targeting hardware wallets, who used the stolen databases to pinpoint targets. Hackers breached websites and servers to obtain cryptocurrency-related databases, which the target identifyrs then used to identify the most valuable targets. Tangeman's sentencing date is set for April 24, 2026. Previously, it was reported that U.S. man Kunal Mehta pleaded guilty to helping launder $263 million in cryptocurrency assets and had purchased 28 luxury cars for his gang.

                                                                               Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s Jonathan Gould says crypto companies should have a path to supervision in the banking system, which can evolve to embrace blockchain.                     Crypto companies seeking a US federal bank charter should be treated no differently than other financial institutions, says Jonathan Gould, the head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).Gould told a blockchain conference on Monday that some new charter applicants in the digital or fintech spaces could be seen as offering novel activities for a national trust bank, but noted “custody and safekeeping services have been happening electronically for decades.”“There is simply no justification for considering digital assets differently,” he added. “Additionally, it is important that we do not confine banks, including current national trust banks, to the technologies or businesses of the past.”Read more