Overview
- Ryan Goldberg of Georgia and Kevin Martin of Texas pleaded guilty in federal court in Miami to conspiring to interfere with commerce by extortion.
- They are scheduled for sentencing on March 12, 2026, and face a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
- Prosecutors say the pair and an unnamed co-conspirator operated as ALPHV/BlackCat affiliates from May to November 2023, issuing ransom demands from about $300,000 to $10 million.
- Court filings state a Tampa medical device company paid roughly $1.27 million after a $10 million demand; other alleged victims include a Maryland pharmaceutical company, a California engineering firm, a Virginia drone maker, and a California doctor’s office.
- The defendants previously worked at Sygnia and DigitalMint; DigitalMint condemned the conduct as unauthorized, and the case unfolds against the backdrop of the FBI’s 2023 breach of BlackCat servers, a decryption tool release, and an assessment of at least $300 million collected from more than 1,000 victims.