Full-Time Home Invasion Robber, California Man, Sentenced to 6.5 Years in Prison for Stealing $250 Million from Hardware Wallet

BlockBeats News, May 7th, a California man was sentenced to 78 months in prison by a U.S. federal court for his involvement in a nationwide social engineering scam that led to the theft of over $250 million worth of crypto assets across the U.S.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 20-year-old Marlon Ferro (alias "GothFerrari") was sentenced this Wednesday and was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release and pay a restitution of $2.5 million.

U.S. prosecutor Jeanine Ferris Pirro stated that Ferro acted as "the crime syndicate's final tool of trade." Pirro said, "When his associates were unable to gain access to victims' cryptocurrency accounts through deception or through hacking into digital accounts, they would turn to Ferro to physically steal hardware wallets."

The prosecution pointed out that the criminal syndicate blended online fraud with traditional burglary and between late 2023 and early 2025, stole over $250 million worth of crypto assets from victims.

A multi-year federal investigation found that the social engineering crime group members engaged in a range of activities, including database hacks, targeting victims, making scam calls, money laundering, and burglary. The group primarily targeted victims holding significant amounts of cryptocurrency. In February 2024, Ferro traveled to Texas and broke into a victim's home, stealing a hardware wallet containing approximately 100 bitcoins (worth over $5 million at the time). The statement mentioned that he also assisted in laundering the proceeds of the crime through a cryptocurrency exchange.