Two Men Plead Guilty In Florida Ransomware Extortion Conspiracy

Florida — A federal district court in the Southern District of Florida has accepted guilty pleas from two men charged with conspiring to obstruct, delay, or affect interstate commerce through extortion in connection with ransomware attacks carried out in 2023.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Ryan Goldberg, 40, of Georgia, and Kevin Martin, 36, of Texas, admitted to participating in a ransomware conspiracy involving the ALPHV (BlackCat) malware. Both defendants worked in the cybersecurity industry and used their technical expertise to carry out attacks they were professionally trained to prevent.

“These defendants used their sophisticated cybersecurity training and experience to commit ransomware attacks — the very type of crime that they should have been working to stop,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said the case demonstrates that ransomware threats can originate domestically. “Goldberg and Martin used trusted access and technical skill to extort American victims and profit from digital coercion,” he said.

Court documents state that Goldberg, Martin, and a third co-conspirator deployed ALPHV BlackCat ransomware between April and December 2023 against multiple U.S. victims. The group operated under a ransomware-as-a-service model, paying ALPHV administrators 20 percent of any ransom in exchange for access to the malware and extortion infrastructure. After extorting approximately $1.2 million in Bitcoin from one victim, the defendants split the proceeds and laundered the funds.

ALPHV BlackCat is believed to have targeted more than 1,000 victims worldwide. In December 2023, the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation disrupted the group’s operations by seizing websites and releasing a decryption tool that helped victims recover systems, preventing an estimated $99 million in ransom payments.

Goldberg and Martin each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit extortion under 18 U.S.C. § 1951(a). They are scheduled to be sentenced on March 12, 2026, and each faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.

The FBI Miami Field Office is leading the investigation with assistance from the U.S. Secret Service and multiple federal prosecutors. Authorities continue to encourage businesses and individuals to report ransomware incidents to the FBI or through the Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.