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Former Chicago ransomware negotiator Angelo Martino was sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison for secretly helping cybercriminals extort clients he was hired to protect.
Martino, 41, was employed at the Chicago cybersecurity company DigitalMint, where he negotiated on behalf of companies whose computers were hacked and held with multimillion-dollar ransom payments.
But Martino helped orchestrate the same hacks that he was tasked with negotiating against. In all, he and his associates extorted more than $75 million in ransoms from four companies and a nonprofit organization that he represented as a negotiator.
The victims included hospitality, retail, medical and financial services businesses. Two of the ransom payoffs were for more than $25 million, according to court records.
The feds have seized $10 million of Martino’s properties in Florida and $10 million in his assets, including vehicles, a luxury fishing boat, a food truck and cryptocurrency.
Martino conspired with Kevin Martin, 36, another ransom threat negotiator for DigitalMint, and Ryan Clifford Goldberg, 41, an incident response manager for Sygnia Cybersecurity Services, according to prosecutors.
Goldberg’s role in the scheme was to identify computer weaknesses and gain access to victims’ networks. Martin’s job was to identify victims, extract data from their computers and lock their networks, prosecutors say. They were both sentenced earlier this year to four years in prison.
Another hearing to determine the amount of restitution Martino will be ordered to pay is scheduled for Sept. 17.
Martino and his associates began hacking into victims’ computer networks in 2023 using the software called ALPHV BlackCat.
BlackCat attackers paid Martino to provide confidential information about the negotiating position and strategy of his employer’s clients and enable the ransomware actors to maximize the payments by the victims, according to prosecutors.
In a previous statement, DigitalMint CEO Jonathan Solomon said the Justice Department informed the company of the allegations in April 2025, and Martino “was terminated the next day.”
Martin was also fired by DigitalMint, and Goldberg no longer works for Sygnia.
Cybersecurity crimes and cryptocurrency fraud have been on the rise in recent years.
Last year, more than $20 billion in losses to cybercrime were reported in the U.S., about a 26% increase from the prior year, according to prosecutors.
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Kade Heather
Chicago Sun-TimesNews reporter
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