Two former cybersecurity professionals who moonlighted as cybercriminals, committing a series of ransomware attacks in 2023, were each sentenced to four years in prison, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Ryan Clifford Goldberg and Kevin Tyler Martin previously pleaded guilty to one of three charges brought against them in December and faced up to 20 years behind bars. 

Goldberg, who was a manager of incident response at Sygnia, and Martin, a ransomware negotiator at DigitalMint at the time, collaborated with Angelo John Martino III to attack victim computers and networks and use ALPHV, also known as BlackCat, ransomware to extort payments.

“These defendants exploited specialized cybersecurity knowledge not to protect victims, but to extort them,” Jason A. Reding Quiñones, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said in a statement. “They used ransomware to lock down critical systems, steal sensitive data, and pressure American businesses into paying to regain access to their own information.”

Victims impacted by the attacks Goldberg and Martin participated in over a six-month period in 2023 included a medical company based in Florida, a pharmaceutical company based in Maryland, a California doctor’s office, an engineering company based in California and a drone manufacturer in Virginia. 

“They harmed important firms who were providing medical and engineering services. They played hardball with them, going so far as to cause the leak of patient data from a doctor’s office victim,” A. Tysen Duva, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in a statement.

“These were supposed to be cybersecurity specialists who did good and helped businesses and people. Instead, they used their high-level cyber skills to feed their greed. Ransomware attackers like this should be punished and removed from society to serve their lawful sentences so they cannot harm others,” Duva added.

Goldberg and Martin received identical sentences for their crimes, despite significant differences surrounding their initial arrests. Martin was arrested without incident in October and freed on bond later that month.

Goldberg fled the country in June, 10 days after he was interviewed by the FBI. He was arrested Sept. 22 and ordered to remain in custody pending trial due to flight risk. 

Goldberg and his wife boarded a one-way flight to Paris from Atlanta on June 27 and remained in Europe until Sept. 21. When Goldberg flew directly from Amsterdam to Mexico City, he was arrested upon landing and deported to the United States.

“When Goldberg sought to flee abroad and escape prosecution, the FBI tracked him through 10 countries, demonstrating the lengths we will go to hold cyber criminals accountable and protect victims,” Brett Leatherman, assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division, said in a statement.

The cases against Golberg, Martin and their co-conspirator Martino showcase an extreme, albeit rare, example of the dark underbelly of ransomware negotiation as a practice. The pitfalls of ransomware negotiation are excessive and these backchannel negotiations, which remain largely unscrutinized, can go awry for various reasons.

Goldberg, 40, and Martin, 36, extorted a $1.3 million ransom payment from the medical company with Martino in May 2023, but did not receive ransom payments from their other victims.

Martino’s ransomware scheme went much further and caused significantly more damage, helping accomplices extort a combined $75.3 million in ransom payments. Five of Martino’s victims hired DigitalMint, which assigned the 41-year-old to conduct ransomware negotiations on their clients’ behalf — a rare position he exploited to play both sides.

He pleaded guilty earlier this month to sharing confidential information about victim organizations’ internal negotiating positions and insurance policy limits he gained from his work as a ransomware negotiator to extract the maximum ransom payment for himself and other BlackCat affiliates.

The five U.S.-based victims that hired DigitalMint and unwittingly tapped Martino to allegedly conduct ransomware negotiations with himself and his co-conspirators include a nonprofit and companies in the hospitality, financial services, retail and medical industries. All five of those victims paid a ransom.

Martino surrendered in March to the U.S. Marshals in Miami and was released on a $500,000 bond. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison and is scheduled for sentencing July 9.

Sygnia and DigitalMint are not accused of any knowledge or involvement in the crimes, and both previously said they fired their former employees once federal authorities alerted the companies to their alleged crimes. 

ALPHV/BlackCat was a notorious ransomware and extortion group linked to a series of attacks on critical infrastructure providers. The ransomware variant first appeared in late 2021, and was later used in dozens of attacks on organizations in the health care sector.

The group behind the ransomware strain also claimed responsibility for the February 2024 attack on UnitedHealth Group subsidiary Change Healthcare, which paid a $22 million ransom and became the largest health care data breach on record, compromising data on about 190 million people.

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A South Florida man pleaded guilty to conspiring with multiple ransomware affiliates to commit attacks against and extort payments from the same U.S. companies he represented as a ransomware negotiator for DigitalMint in 2023, the Justice Department said Monday.

Angelo John Martino III shared confidential information about victim organizations’ internal negotiating positions and insurance policy limits he gained from his work as a ransomware negotiator to extract the maximum ransom payment for himself and other BlackCat affiliates, according to his plea agreement.

Five of Martino’s victims hired DigitalMint, which assigned the 41-year-old to conduct ransomware negotiations on their clients’ behalf — a rare position he exploited to play both sides. DigitalMint, which is not accused of any knowledge or involvement in the crimes, fired Martino the day after the Justice Department informed the company they were investigating him in April 2025. 

The five U.S.-based victims that hired DigitalMint and unwittingly tapped Martino to allegedly conduct ransomware negotiations with himself and his co-conspirators include a nonprofit and companies in the hospitality, financial services, retail and medical industries. All five of those victims paid a ransom.

Prosecutors previously said Martino helped accomplices extort a combined $75.3 million in ransom payments, including a nearly $26.8 million payment from the unnamed nonprofit, and a nearly $25.7 million payment from the unnamed financial services company. 

Martino also admitted to conspiring with Kevin Tyler Martin, another former ransomware negotiator at DigitalMint, and Ryan Clifford Goldberg, a former manager of incident response at Sygnia, to deploy BlackCat ransomware, also known as ALPHV, against five additional U.S. companies between April and November 2023. 

Goldberg and Martin pleaded guilty in December to participating in a series of ransomware attacks and are scheduled for sentencing April 30.

“Angelo Martino’s clients trusted him to respond to ransomware threats and help thwart and remedy them on behalf of victims,” A. Tysen Duva, assistant attorney general at the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a statement. “Instead, he betrayed them and began launching ransomware attacks himself by assisting cybercriminals and harming victims, his own employer, and the cyber incident response industry itself.”

The case against Martino showcases an extreme, albeit rare, example of the dark underbelly of ransomware negotiation as a practice. The pitfalls of ransomware negotiation are excessive and these backchannel negotiations, which remain largely unscrutinized, can go awry for various reasons. 

Officials shared a series of chats Martino held with co-conspirators and his victims that exemplify the lengths he went to betray DigitalMint’s clients and empower his accomplices with crucial tips for a successful negotiation strategy.

DigitalMint did not respond to a request for comment on Martino’s guilty plea.

Negotiation chats exemplify Martino’s crimes

During an incident response with one of his victims, Martino told a BlackCat affiliate the company’s insurance carrier “was only approving small accounts,” according to his plea agreement. “Keep denying our offers and I will let you know once I find out the max the[y] want to pay,” he added.

“We don’t know how you came up with your demand but we are losing money operationally and all of our loans are going to turnover on us this year at double the interest rates,” Martino said in a negotiation chat visible to DigitalMint and the victim organization in the hospitality industry. “We are able to give you $1 million now, which is a very serious offer.”

Following Martino’s instructions, the BlackCat accomplice responded: “Well, you can keep that for the penalties and lawsuits which are coming your way in case we expose you. Time is ticking — we know how much you can pay. Contact your insurance. We know about them also. Stop wasting time.”

That victim company ultimately paid a ransom worth nearly $16.5 million at the time to receive a decryptor and the BlackCat affiliate’s commitment to not publish stolen data. The two other victims Martino represented via DigitalMint at the time paid $6.1 million and $213,000 ransoms for similar commitments.

“Ransomware victims turned to this defendant for help, and he sold them out from the inside,” Jason A. Reding Quiñones, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said in a statement.

Martino received a portion of the ransomware payments for his involvement in the conspiracy.

Authorities have seized $10 million in assets and cryptocurrency wallets controlled by Martino. Law enforcement seized multiple vehicles, a food truck and a 29-foot luxury fishing boat that he obtained using proceeds from his crimes.

Officials also seized two properties owned by Martino in Nokomis, Florida, including a bayfront home with an estimated value of $1.68 million and a second single-family home with an estimated value of $396,000. 

Martino surrendered in March to the U.S. Marshals in Miami and was released on a $500,000 bond.

“The FBI works every day to dismantle the ransomware ecosystem,” Brett Leatherman, assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division, said in a statement. “That includes apprehending key facilitators like Angelo Martino, who abused the trust placed in him as a private sector negotiator by collaborating with ransomware criminals.”

ALPHV/BlackCat was a notorious ransomware and extortion group linked to a series of attacks on critical infrastructure providers. The ransomware variant first appeared in late 2021, and was later used in dozens of attacks on organizations in the health care sector.

The group behind the ransomware strain also claimed responsibility for the February 2024 attack on UnitedHealth Group subsidiary Change Healthcare, which paid a $22 million ransom and became the largest health care data breach on record, compromising data on about 190 million people.

Martino pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct, delay or affect commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce by extortion. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison and is scheduled for sentencing July 9.

You can read Martino’s plea agreement below.

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A 41-year-old South Florida man is accused of conducting at least 10 ransomware attacks and helping accomplices extort a combined $75.25 million in ransom payments while he was working as a ransomware negotiator for DigitalMint. 

Five of Angelo John Martino III’s alleged victims hired DigitalMint, which assigned Martino to conduct ransomware negotiations on their clients’ behalf — putting him in a position to play both sides, as the criminal responsible for the attack and the lead negotiator for his alleged victims, according to federal court records unsealed Wednesday.

Martino allegedly obtained an affiliate account on ALPHV, also known as BlackCat, and conspired with other former cybersecurity professionals to break into victims’ networks, steal and encrypt data, and extort companies for ransoms over a six-month period in 2023.

Martino was an unnamed co-conspirator in an indictment filed in November 2025 against Kevin Tyler Martin, another former ransomware negotiator at DigitalMint, and Ryan Clifford Goldberg, a former manager of incident response at Sygnia. Goldberg and Martin pleaded guilty in December to participating in a series of ransomware attacks and are scheduled for sentencing April 30.

Prosecutors accuse Martino of providing confidential information regarding ransomware negotiations to ALPHV co-conspirators to maximize the ransom payment. His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The five U.S.-based victims that hired DigitalMint and unwittingly tapped Martino to allegedly conduct ransomware negotiations with himself and his co-conspirators include a nonprofit and companies in the hospitality, financial services, retail and medical industries. All five of those victims paid a ransom.

Goldberg and Martin were not specifically named as co-conspirators in those attacks. Prosecutors previously said they only successfully extorted a financial payment from one of their victims for nearly $1.3 million.

Cybersecurity firm that employed Martino responds

DigitalMint said they suspended Martino’s access to systems when the Justice Department notified the company they were investigating him on April 3 and fired him the next day. The company, which is not accused of any knowledge or involvement with the crimes, added it was not aware that Martino and Martin were already involved in ransomware-related schemes before they were hired. 

“We strongly condemn these former employees’ criminal behavior, which violated our values, ethical standards and the law,” DigitalMint CEO Jonathan Solomon said in a statement to CyberScoop.

“DigitalMint has fully cooperated with law enforcement from the outset and does not expect further charges,” Solomon added. “While no organization can completely eliminate insider risk, we take incidents like this extremely seriously and have strengthened safeguards and internal controls to further reduce the likelihood of similar conduct.”

DigitalMint did not directly answer questions about whether it refunded its clients who were allegedly victimized by Martino. “We are not able to discuss specific client relationships or fee arrangements due to confidentiality obligations,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “We remain committed to our clients and have addressed any commercial matters directly with those parties.”

The company also declined to describe the circumstances under which it was hired and assigned Martino to conduct ransomware negotiations on the attacks he allegedly committed. Yet, in a statement it noted: “The charging documents do not allege that Martino referred or brought these victims to DigitalMint.”

The case against Martino showcases an extreme, albeit rare, example of the dark underbelly of ransomware negotiation as a practice. The pitfalls of ransomware negotiation are excessive and these backchannel negotiations, which remain largely unscrutinized, can go awry for various reasons. 

Authorities seize about $12M in assets, set $500K bond

Martino is charged with conspiracy to interfere with commerce by extortion and faces up to 20 years in prison. He is scheduled to enter a plea March 19. 

Authorities seized nearly $9.2 million in five types of cryptocurrency from 21 wallets controlled by Martino. Other items seized from Martino include a 1999 Nissan Skyline, a 2024 Polaris RZR, a 2023 trailer and a 29-foot boat manufactured in 2023.

Officials also seized two properties owned by Martino in Nokomis, Florida, including a bayfront home with an estimated value of $1.68 million and a second single-family home with an estimated value of $396,000. The bayfront home was reported as the second-largest real estate transaction of the week when Martino and his wife purchased the home for $1.791 million in February 2024.

Martino surrendered to the U.S. Marshals in Miami Tuesday and was released on a $500,000 bond. He is restricted from traveling outside the Southern District of Florida and is prohibited from working in the cybersecurity industry.

ALPHV/BlackCat was a notorious ransomware and extortion group linked to a series of attacks on critical infrastructure providers. The ransomware variant first appeared in late 2021, and was later used in dozens of attacks on organizations in the health care sector.

The group behind the ransomware strain also claimed responsibility for the February 2024 attack on UnitedHealth Group subsidiary Change Healthcare, which paid a $22 million ransom and became the largest health care data breach on record, compromising data on about 190 million people.

Two of Martino’s alleged victims paid even higher ransoms in 2023, according to prosecutors, including a nearly $26.8 million payment from the unnamed nonprofit, and a nearly $25.7 million payment from the unnamed financial services company.

You can read the formal charge prosecutors filed against Martino below.

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