Two Americans Admit to Using ALPHV BlackCat Ransomware to Attack U.S. Victims

PANews, December 31—According to the official website of the U.S. Department of Justice, Ryan Goldberg (40 years old) from Georgia and Kevin Martin (36 years old) from Texas pleaded guilty in federal court in the Southern District of Florida, admitting to conspiring with others in 2023 to use the ALPHV BlackCat ransomware to attack multiple victims across the United States. Both individuals come from the cybersecurity industry and shared the proceeds with the ransomware developers according to a set ratio. In one attack, they successfully extorted $1.2 million in bitcoin. The court will sentence them on March 12, 2026, and both face up to 20 years in prison.