Texas DigitalMint Ransomware Negotiator Sentenced 4 Years After Attacking Companies He Was Hired

On April 30, 2026, Kevin Tyler Martin — a 36-year-old ransomware negotiator employed by DigitalMint, a Chicago-based cybersecurity firm specializing in cryptocurrency-facilitated ransom payments, operating out of Texas — was sentenced to four years in federal prison after pleading guilty in December 2025 to one count of conspiracy to obstruct, delay, or affect commerce by extortion under 18 U.S.C. § 1951 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Beginning in April 2023, Martin conspired with fellow DigitalMint negotiator Angelo John Martino III and Sygnia incident response manager Ryan Clifford Goldberg to deploy ALPHV BlackCat ransomware against multiple U.S. companies while paying the ransomware operators a 20% affiliate cut of all proceeds. Martino weaponized his position at DigitalMint by feeding BlackCat operators the confidential insurance policy limits and internal negotiation strategies of the very clients who had hired the firm for protection, ensuring victims paid maximum ransoms before they ever had a chance to negotiate. The conspiracy ran from April through December 2023, targeting five organizations including a Florida medical company, a Maryland pharmaceutical firm, a California doctor's office, a California engineering company, and a Virginia drone manufacturer — extorting approximately $1.3 million from the medical company alone. Investigators later confirmed that Martino's broader double-dealing as a negotiator contributed to $75.3 million in total ransom payments across additional victims. Patient data from the California doctor's office was leaked when that victim refused to pay, exposing records belonging to patients who had entrusted their care — and their privacy — to a facility that unknowingly assigned its ransomware negotiator to both sides of the attack. - - Disclaimer: This video is a dramatization based on real events. Some visual content was created with artificial intelligence assistance. Some details have been fictionalized and all names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved.