Overview
- Angelo Martino pleaded guilty to conspiring to deploy BlackCat ransomware against U.S. companies in 2023.
- Prosecutors say he abused his role as a ransomware negotiator by leaking clients’ insurance limits and bargaining plans to the attackers to boost payouts.
- Martino admitted working with Ryan Goldberg and Kevin Martin to carry out multiple intrusions, and those co-defendants entered guilty pleas last year with sentencing set for April 30.
- Investigators say one victim paid about $1.2 million in Bitcoin, the trio split and laundered the funds, and authorities have seized roughly $10 million in assets from Martino, including cryptocurrency and luxury items.
- Court filings reported by BleepingComputer say the group acted as BlackCat affiliates who paid a 20% cut to the operators and that some victims paid multi‑million‑dollar ransoms, underscoring the risk when insiders turn on victims.