"Angelo Martino sold out the very victims he was hired to represent, handing their confidential negotiating positions to BlackCat actors to drive up ransoms and enrich himself," said Assistant Director Brett Leatherman of the FBI Cyber Division.
Sentence and formal charge against Angelo Martino
On a recent federal sentencing, Angelo Martino, 41, of Land O'Lakes, Florida, received a 70-month prison term for his role in conspiring to interfere with interstate commerce through extortion. Martino pleaded guilty in April to a one-count information charging him with that conspiracy. Federal prosecutors characterized his conduct in a sentencing memorandum as that of a "double agent working to maximize the harm to his clients and the financial gain to cybercriminals who paid him a part of the ransom."
How prosecutors say Martino aided BlackCat and harmed victims
Prosecutors say Martino worked as a negotiator on behalf of five different ransomware victims while clandestinely providing BlackCat operators with confidential information about the victims' negotiating positions and strategy. The government states that material Martino disclosed included victims' insurance policy limits and internal negotiation positions, information that allowed operators to increase the ransoms the victims were required to pay. Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the U.S. Justice Department's Criminal Division summarized the human cost, saying the victims "shared heartbreaking accounts of how their businesses were nearly destroyed, while the people they hired to help them instead betrayed them to ransomware gangs."
Co-conspirators, employers, and the BlackCat campaign timeline
Federal filings and sentencing updates name two other cybersecurity professionals who colluded with Martino. Ryan Goldberg, 41, of Georgia, and Kevin Martin, 36, of Texas, were accused of working with Martino to deploy BlackCat ransomware against multiple U.S. victims between April 2023 and November 2023. Martino and Kevin Martin were employed at DigitalMint, while Ryan Goldberg served as an incident response manager for Sygnia. Both Goldberg and Martin pleaded guilty last December and were sentenced in May 2026 to four years in prison for their roles in carrying out the attacks.
Asset seizures and the restitution schedule
The Justice Department reports that law enforcement has seized $10 million in assets from Martino to date. The seized property includes digital currency, vehicles, a food truck, and a luxury fishing boat that prosecutors say Martino purchased with illicit proceeds. Martino is scheduled to appear in court on September 17, 2026, for a hearing to determine the exact amount of restitution to be ordered against him.
What this means for DigitalMint and Sygnia, ransomware victims and insurers, and U.S. prosecutors
- DigitalMint and Sygnia: Both firms are identified in the case record as employers of individuals who pleaded guilty—Martino and Kevin Martin at DigitalMint, and Ryan Goldberg at Sygnia—linking incident responders' employment ties directly to a criminal campaign carried out between April and November 2023.
- Ransomware victims and insurers: The record says victims' insurance policy limits and internal negotiating positions were passed to attackers, enabling larger ransom demands; victims described near-destruction of their businesses, underscoring how exposure of insurer and negotiation information factored into harm.
- U.S. prosecutors and the FBI: The Department of Justice and the FBI framed the case as targeting not only the hackers who deploy ransomware but also insiders who enable them and the proceeds they steal. U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones said the prosecution "sends a clear message" that authorities will pursue both operators and insiders, a position echoed in the bureau's public statements.
The court's actions in this case combine criminal sentences for operators and cooperating insiders with large-scale asset seizures and a pending restitution process: a 70-month term for Martino, four-year terms for Goldberg and Martin already imposed, and $10 million in assets seized so far. Martino's September 17, 2026, restitution hearing is the next scheduled court step, and the Justice Department's public statements frame the case as an example of authorities pursuing the full chain of criminal profit and facilitation.
