Two Americans who built their careers protecting companies from online threats have admitted to doing the exact opposite. Ryan Goldberg, 40, of Georgia, and Kevin Martin, 36, of Texas, pleaded guilty in a Florida federal court this week after they were caught using their professional skills to carry out a string of extortion attacks for the ALPHV (aka BlackCat) ransomware gang throughout 2023.
Millions in Ransom Collected
In December 2023, the FBI disrupted the ALPHV ransomware gang. Investigations revealed that Goldberg and Martin operated as “affiliates” for the group. This group uses a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model, where the BlackCat developers provided the malicious software and the platform, while the affiliates (in this case, Goldberg and Martin) identified and attacked the victims.
In exchange, they paid the BlackCat administrators a 20% cut of any money they stole. While these two men focused on targets within the US, the ALPHV BlackCat group was a global menace, hitting over 1,000 victims worldwide, the US Department of Justice’s press release noted.
The scheme proved to be highly lucrative; the group successfully attacked multiple victims across the US. In one of their most profitable hits, the men successfully extorted approximately $1.2 million in Bitcoin from a single company.
After paying the 20% fee to the software creators, the men split the remaining 80% and used various methods to launder the money to hide their tracks. According to court records, the total losses caused by their crimes exceeded $9.5 million.
A Betrayal of Trust
What makes this story hard to believe is that while the pair was attacking businesses, they were also working day jobs at elite firms dedicated to stopping cybercrime. Goldberg was a manager at Sygnia, a firm that helps companies recover after hacking, and Martin worked as a negotiator at DigitalMint, helping victims talk down extortionists.
This means they had insider knowledge of how companies defend themselves, which they used to bypass security. As Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva pointed out that the pair used their experience to carry out crimes “they should have been working to stop.”
The FBI’s Miami Field Office led the probe that eventually brought the operation to an end, and Goldberg and Martin are now facing the long-term reality of their choices. Each has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to affect commerce by extortion. They are currently scheduled for sentencing on March 12, 2026, and face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.