A federal court has sentenced 20-year-old Marlon Ferro of Santa Ana, California, to 78 months in prison for his role in a crypto theft conspiracy that stole more than $250 million from victims across the United States.
According to the case, this was a coordinated operation, not a one-off hack. Ferro pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy after a scheme that used hacks, stolen data, fake phone calls, and other social-engineering tactics to break into accounts or convince victims to hand over credentials. When that failed, Ferro was sent to steal hardware wallets directly.
The conspiracy ran from late 2023 into early 2025. Ferro will also serve supervised release and pay restitution.
What makes this case stand out is the escalation: crypto theft did not stop at phishing links and account takeovers. It moved into real-world targeting, where stolen information could lead straight to a person, a device, and the assets inside it.