The U.S. Department of Justice charged Angelo Martino, a former DigitalMint ransomware negotiator, with one count of conspiracy to interfere with interstate commerce by extortion after he surrendered to U.S. Marshals on March 10.
KEY FACTS
- Charge One count of conspiracy to interfere with interstate commerce by extortion
- Defendant Angelo Martino, former DigitalMint employee
- Alleged timeline April 2023 to April 2025
- Victims At least five U.S. organizations including a nonprofit that paid $26,793,000
An unsealed court document from DocumentCloud said Martino shared confidential information about ongoing negotiations with BlackCat operators while working as a ransomware negotiator for DigitalMint.
Martino allegedly participated in ransomware attacks with Kevin Tyler Martin and Ryan Goldberg between April 2023 and April 2025. The defendants operated as BlackCat affiliates, demanding ransom payments while threatening to leak stolen data and allegedly paying administrators a 20% share of collected ransoms for access to the extortion portal.
Victims included at least five U.S. organizations, among them a nonprofit that paid $26,793,000 and a financial services firm that paid $25,660,000. Other targets included medical facilities, law firms and school districts.
DigitalMint condemned the conduct, terminated both employees and has cooperated fully with law enforcement while strengthening safeguards and internal controls. Kevin Tyler Martin and Ryan Goldberg previously pleaded guilty and are scheduled to be sentenced in April.
WHY IT MATTERS
The case highlights insider risk in ransomware response services and the potential scale of losses when negotiators act against client interests. Organizations should review access controls and monitoring for incident response personnel.