A third man has pleaded guilty to participating in ransomware attacks while working for a cybersecurity company hired to negotiate with hackers.
In October 2025, the US announced charges against three individuals for allegedly conducting ransomware attacks against several companies. Authorities said the suspects were tasked with helping victims, but instead they helped the attackers in return for a share of the ransom.
Two of the suspects, Kevin Martin from Texas and Ryan Goldberg from Georgia, pleaded guilty in late 2025 and await sentencing, scheduled for the end of April.
The identity of the third individual was only revealed in March 2026. He is 41-year-old Angelo Martino from Florida, who worked with Martin as a ransomware negotiator at an incident response firm. Goldberg worked for a different cybersecurity company.
Martino has now also pleaded guilty and, similar to Goldberg and Martin, faces up to 20 years in prison.
According to the Justice Department, Martino abused his role as a ransomware negotiator for five companies by providing the BlackCat/Alphv cybercrime group with information useful in negotiating a ransom payment.
“This confidential information assisted the ransomware actors and maximized the ransoms that the victims were required to pay. The BlackCat actors paid Martino for this confidential information,” the DOJ said.
Law enforcement has seized $10 million worth of assets from Martino.
Over 1,000 organizations were targeted in BlackCat ransomware attacks between November 2021 and December 2023, when the operation was disrupted by law enforcement. The cybercriminals continued operating for a few more months until they received a $22 million ransom, then pulled an exit scam.
The US has been offering a $10 million reward for information on key members of the BlackCat group, but no charges have been announced to date.
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