A ransomware negotiator sold out his clients to the gang that hired him — and a federal judge just made that very expensive.
Angelo Martino, 41, of Land O'Lakes, Florida, was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison for working as a double agent for the BlackCat (ALPHV) ransomware collective while ostensibly representing its victims. He and two co-conspirators — Ryan Clifford Goldberg and Kevin Tyler Martin — didn't just withhold help; they actively infected at least some clients with ransomware and passed insider details to other BlackCat affiliates to drive up ransom payments. Five companies were targeted, including a Florida medical device firm that received a $10 million ransom demand and ultimately paid $1.2 million. Martino forfeits all cryptocurrency proceeds plus the houses, cars, and boats purchased with them, and owes 10% of any post-release salary.
The case exposes a structural vulnerability in the ransomware response industry: it is largely unregulated, built on trust, and the firms that sell negotiation services face no licensing requirements or conflict-of-interest rules. Victims under pressure hand sensitive financials and system details to strangers whose loyalties are impossible to verify. This trio had the access and the motive; the only thing missing was oversight.
Martino pleaded guilty and argued for a 24-month sentence, citing cooperation that led to his co-defendants' convictions. The court gave him 70 months anyway — nearly three times what he asked for. Goldberg and Martin each received four years in April 2026. The outcome is a rare, concrete federal rebuke of insider collusion in the ransomware economy, but it won't solve the industry's trust problem on its own.