- Three males allegedly deployed ALPHV ransomware towards US companies, demanding cryptocurrency ransoms
- Victims included medical, pharma, engineering, and drone companies; one paid $1.2 million
- Expenses carry as much as 20 years; Goldberg confessed and was caught making an attempt to flee
Three cybersecurity professionals have been accused of working as associates for the dreaded ALPHV (BlackCat) ransomware gang, deploying encryptors towards a number of US organizations.
A US federal indictment filed within the Southern District of Florida claims two defendants – Ryan Clifford Goldberg of Georgia, and Kevin Tyler Martin of Texas, along with a 3rd co-conspirator, hacked into firm networks, stole knowledge, encrypted it with ALPHV ransomware, and demanded cryptocurrency ransoms.
Whereas the indictment doesn’t describe both as cybersecurity professionals, the Chicago Solar-Instances claims each Martin and the unnamed co-conspirator labored at DigitalMint as ransomware risk negotiators, whereas Goldberg was a former Sygnia incident response supervisor.
20 years in jail
Their victims included not less than 5 firms: a medical gadget firm from Florida (demanded $10 million in ransom, ended up paying round $1.2 million), a pharmaceutical firm from Maryland, a health care provider’s workplace and an engineering firm in California, and a drone producer based mostly in Virginia.
Since all 5 firms have been engaged in interstate commerce, the case falls underneath federal jurisdiction, it was defined.
The funds have been allegedly laundered via a number of cryptocurrency wallets to cover their origins.
The three are going through critical jail time. They’re being charged with “conspiracy to intrude with interstate commerce by extortion”, “interference with ecommerce by extortion”, and “intentional harm to a protected laptop”. The primary two carry jail sentences of as much as 20 years, whereas the third one 10 years.
Martin has pled not responsible, whereas Goldberg has been in federal custody since September 2023.
Citing an FBI affidavit, CyberInsider reported Goldberg admitted collaborating within the assaults throughout a June 2025 FBI interview and even mentioned that he was recruited by the co-conspirator. He allegedly tried to flee the nation along with his spouse after the interview, when he was apprehended.
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