Ransomware negotiator jailed for 70 months after he just helped infect victims with malware

• Ransomware negotiator Angelo Martino will serve 70 months in prison for secretly aiding BlackCat (ALPHV) attackers
• Martino forfeits crypto proceeds, houses, cars, and boats, and must pay 10% of future salary after release
• Martino was the third negotiator exposed; his co‑conspirators Ryan Clifford Goldberg and Kevin Tyler Martin previously received four‑year sentences for similar insider collusion

A ransomware negotiator who worked with the attackers behind his clients’ backs has been sentenced to almost six years in prison.

A sentencing memorandum published by the US government said 41-year-old Angelo Martino will spend the next 70 months in prison, and will also lose all of the cryptocurrency the attackers paid him for sharing insider information, as well as all of the houses, cars, and boats, he had bought with this money.

He will also have to pay 10% of any salary he earns after his release.

Asking for a shorter sentence

In November 2025, it was reported that three men who worked as ransomware negotiators to help victims minimize the damages of these attacks were actually agents for the dreaded BlackCat (ALPHV) ransomware collective.

Over the next months, it was reported that the men - Ryan Clifford Goldberg of Georgia, Kevin Tyler Martin of Texas, and Angelo Martino of Land O'Lakes, Florida, not only did not help their victims, but actually infected some of them with ransomware, and later shared valuable insider information with other BlackCat affiliates, in order to maximize the payment.

Their victims included at least five companies: a medical device company from Florida (demanded $10 million in ransom, ended up paying around $1.2 million), a pharmaceutical company from Maryland, a doctor’s office and an engineering company in California, and a drone manufacturer based in Virginia.

While all three faced serious prison time (between 10 and 20 years), they received far less. Martin and Goldberg were each sentenced to four years in prison in April 2026, while Martino will spend five years and ten months behind bars. Martino pleaded guilty and asked for a 24-month sentence, stating he “provided substantial assistance that contributed to the indictment and conviction of two co-defendants.” It didn’t work.

Via Ars Technica