Hardware Wallet Thief Gets 78 Months in Prison Over $250M Crypto 'Heist'

A 20-year-old California man was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison Wednesday for his role in a criminal enterprise that prosecutors say stole more than $250 million in cryptocurrency.

The enterprise operated for over a year between late 2023 and early 2025, using social engineering schemes to manipulate victims into revealing access to their digital assets.

Marlon Ferro, aka “GothFerrari,” served as what prosecutors called the operation’s " instrument of last resort," breaking into homes when digital theft methods failed. "When his co-conspirators couldn’t deceive victims into handing over access to their cryptocurrency or hack their way into digital accounts, they turned to Ferro to break into homes and steal hardware wallets outright," said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.

Ferro, from Santa Ana, California, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to participate in a racketeer influenced and corrupt organization, following his arrest on May 13, 2025, where authorities found him in possession of two firearms and a fake identification document. U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly imposed the sentence, which also includes $2.5 million in restitution and three years of supervised release following his prison term.

In February 2024, Ferro traveled to Winnsboro, Texas, where he broke into a victim's home and stole a hardware wallet containing about 100 BTC, then worth more than $5 million. Five months later in New Mexico, he conducted surveillance on another residence before smashing a window with a brick to search for hardware wallets.

Ferro also served as the group’s “key money launderer,” using fraudulent ID to set up a digital payment card at an unnamed “geo-blocked platform,” enabling members of the enterprise to spend their ill-gotten crypto gains.

Ferro himself used stolen cryptocurrency proceeds to fund the group's lavish lifestyle, spending more than $255,000 on designer clothing for his co-conspirators—including Hermès Birkin bags for the girlfriend of the group’s leader, following his arrest and sentencing in September 2024. Ferro “continued to assist him from the outside,” laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars and using the proceeds to pay for the conspiracy leader’s attorneys.

"This scheme blended sophisticated online fraud with old-fashioned burglary to drain victims of millions of dollars in digital assets," Pirro said in the sentencing announcement, adding that Ferro's sentence "sends a clear message: cryptocurrency fraud is not a victimless, consequence-free crime carried out safely behind a screen—it is serious criminal conduct that will lead to federal prison."