Young Indiana Man’s 20-Year Sentence for $37M Crypto Heist — But Co-conspirators Walk

The U.S. Department of Justice sent a loud and clear zero-tolerance message for all crypto theft black hat hackers.

On February 6, Judge Roberto A. Lange sentenced a 22-year-old man from the city of Lebanon, Indiana, after he was convicted of conspiracy to commit Wire Fraud and conspiracy to Launder Monetary Instruments.

U.S. Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced the sentence on the same day a dire warning was sent to hackers by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of South Dakota.

Evan Frederick Light received a 20-year federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. Light was also ordered to pay restitution for no less than $37 million, which is about the amount he stole in crypto from an investing firm.

Light pleaded guilty to charges and admitted he had help from anonymous co-conspirator(s), both in stealing the money and laundering it internationally.

Light confessed on September 30, 2024, two years after the crime, which caused significant damage to about 600 victims.

Techopedia examines how Light stole $37.7 million in crypto, how the FBI tracked him down, and what the future may hold for the unmentioned co-conspirator(s) who pérpetuated this crime with Light.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. Who Is Evan Frederick Light?
3. Charged and Guilty of Conspiracy to Commit
4. How Evan Light Breached, Stole, and Laundered $37.7 Million
5. This Is How the FBI Caught Evan Light
6. The U.S. Federal Court Warning for Underground Crypto Cybercriminals
7. The Bottom Line
8. FAQs
9. References

Show Full Guide

Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. Who Is Evan Frederick Light?
3. Charged and Guilty of Conspiracy to Commit
Show Full Guide
4. How Evan Light Breached, Stole, and Laundered $37.7 Million
5. This Is How the FBI Caught Evan Light
6. The U.S. Federal Court Warning for Underground Crypto Cybercriminals
7. The Bottom Line
8. FAQs
9. References

Who Is Evan Frederick Light?

There is little online information on who exactly Evan Frederick Light is. We know Light is from Indiana, that he is 22 years old, and was about 18 or 19 years old when committed this crime.

Some media reported that Light is a high school dropout, something we could not verify. Other than that, we have U.S. DoJ court documents, his signed confession and guilty plea, and DoJ statements. Everything we see seems to reveal that this young man, at some point in his life, took a wrong turn into the cybercrime underground made poor decisions, leading him to 20 years in federal prison.

These bad criminal decisions had a profound human cost. The U.S. DoJ says Light’s actions

left hundreds of victims in a devastated state.

In the guilty plea court document dated and signed September 30, 2024, and tracked down by Techopedia, Light says:

“In February 2022, I was involved in a cyber-intrusion involving an investment holdings company located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. During the cyber-intrusion.

I and others stole customer personal identifiable information, which was exfiltrated, and then stole cryptocurrency worth over $37 million from approximately 571 victims.”

Charged and Guilty of Conspiracy to Commit

Evan Light was charged with conspiracy to commit Wire Fraud and conspiracy to Launder Monetary Instruments. Conspiracy is a legal term that implies the involvement of two or more individuals.

Light acknowledged in his plea that he worked with unknown or unmentioned co-conspirators. The fact that these alleged co-conspirators are not named could be because this is a federal grand jury trial. Information and court documents for grand jury cases are often sealed and unavailable to the public.

It is also unknown if Light collaborated with the FBI and gave up information on the alleged co-conspirators.

How Evan Light Breached, Stole, and Laundered $37.7 Million

The DoJ press release says that in February of 2022, Light was involved in a cyber-intrusion involving an investment holdings company located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The name of the investment company is also left out from public information.

The DoJ adds that Light accessed the identity of a real client of the investment holdings company and unlawfully utilized that identity to infiltrate the investment holdings company’s computer servers.

Once he had breached the servers, he exfiltrated personal data from hundreds of other clients. Using this data, Light and his co-conspirators accessed accounts and stole cryptocurrencies.

Light not only stole the $37.7 million, but then ran a complex money laundering operation to clean the dirty funds.

This Is How the FBI Caught Evan Light

The FBI was right on top of Evan Light’s case from the very beginning, and it was the same investment holdings company that Light stole the data from which contacted the FBI.

After being alerted about the security incident the FBI began its investigation. Years after the incident FBI agents finally hit the jackpot. They discovered an email address used to purchase items with the stolen cryptocurrency. They were then able to link that email to Evan Light.

Lee’s guilty plea reads as follows:

“Before and during the cyber intrusion, I was working in conjunction with one or more individual(s) to exploit the vulnerabilities of the investment holdings company’s server, move the customer database, and steal the cryptocurrency.

After acquiring control of the stolen cryptocurrency, these proceeds, in part, were funneled to various locations throughout the world, including multiple mixing services and gambling websites to conceal my identity and the identities of co-conspirator(s) and to hide the virtual currency.”

Evan Light stole the data of approximately 571 victims and used this information to steal their crypto. Now U.S. Court hearings are on the way to figure out how Light will restitute the stolen funds.

“It was unclear at the time who had hacked into the investment holdings company,” the DoJ press release says.

By May 9, 2023, FBI agents executed a search warrant on Light’s house. They found dozens of electronics owned by Light, including seven cold wallets hosting Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and other types of cryptocurrency.

“After acquiring control of the stolen cryptocurrency, these proceeds, in part, were funneled to various locations throughout the world, including multiple mixing services and gambling websites to conceal my identity and the identities of co-conspirator(s) and to hide the virtual currency,” Light told investigators.

The U.S. Federal Court Warning for Underground Crypto Cybercriminals

The U.S. Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell said that Light destroyed the retirement savings of hardworking, honest Americans.

“His 20-year sentence demonstrates the severity of his crime and its impact on the hundreds of victims whose lives have been devastated by his fraudulent activity,” U.S. Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell said.

As crypto investment scams, crypto fraud and crypto heists rise to new levels driven by the increase in the price of Bitcoin and other coins, the U.S. Court message is clear:

“Although this defendant tried to hide in the shadows of a cyber underworld, he was not beyond the reach of our team, and today’s guilty verdicts should serve as a reminder that this office and its law enforcement partners will bring cyber criminals to justice, regardless how sophisticated their crimes may be.”

At sentencing, the courts and the victims praised the work of the FBI, whose work led to the identification of this perpetrator and the subsequent recovery of a substantial portion of the stolen cryptocurrency.

The Bottom Line

Cybercrime is not a victimless offense, and Techopedia would still be interested in knowing more about the other co-conspirators and whether Light was recruited by a foreign cybercriminal organization.

How Light gained the technical know-how to pull off this heist and the complexities of global money laundering operations, dominated by international cybercriminal syndicates, is also relevant to the case.

Moving forward, these and other details can help fight crypto heist and international cybercrime. The alleged co-conspirators should also be held accountable and brought to the U.S.courts to respond for their role in this American crypto heist.

Because this is a grand jury case, it is possible that the identity of Evan Light’s co-conspirators were concealed to allow further investigations to move forward. Charges against these unnamed perpetrators could come in the future.

FAQs