French prosecutors are investigating the kidnapping of a cryptocurrency investor’s father—who has not been named—after he was rescued by police near Paris on May 3.
Seven people have been arrested in connection with the incident.
In a statement published on May 4, the Paris prosecutor’s office said, “The victim turned out to be the father of a man who made his fortune in cryptocurrencies, and the incident was accompanied by a ransom demand.”
The prosecutor’s office said the man was abducted on the morning of May 1 and held for two days before he was rescued by police from a house in the Essonne region, south of Paris.
Four people were arrested in or near the house, and a fifth was arrested in a car, the prosecutor’s office said.
Two others were arrested on Sunday.
The incident appears to be the latest criminal attempt to extort people who possess digital assets.
In the latest incident, the prosecutor’s office said the abductee was treated for his injuries, giving no further details, amid reports in the French media that one of his fingers had been cut off.
The prosecutor’s office said that those arrested would face a number of criminal charges, including kidnapping involving “torture or a barbaric act.”
Gardon said the assailants, who were wearing balaclavas, struck on Thursday morning, bundling the victim into a van as he left his home in Paris to walk his dog.
Bystanders alerted the police, who launched an investigation.
‘New Ultimatum’ From Kidnappers
The police chief said his team reached the house in Essonne on Saturday night.“We got there a few minutes before a new ultimatum where the victim might again have suffered another mutilation.”
Gardon said he waited at his unit’s headquarters in Paris until he heard the rescue team, from the police’s Search and Intervention Brigade (BRI), give the codeword “jackpot,” signalling the abductee had been recovered safely.
“Obviously, it was a big relief,” he told RTL.
In the January incident, Balland and his wife were abducted from their home in the Cher region, in central France.
Police said the kidnappers had demanded a cryptocurrency ransom from Balland’s colleague, another of Ledger’s co-founders.
But Balland was rescued by France’s National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN) unit, which is highly trained in hostage situations. His wife was freed the following day, after being tied up in a vehicle.
In 2022, Aiden Pleterski, the self-proclaimed “Crypto King,” was kidnapped at gunpoint in downtown Toronto, beaten, and held captive for three days.
In recent years, cyber scammers have increased the number of cryptocurrency frauds they carry out on unsuspecting investors, often individuals who lose their whole life savings.
