French authorities have alleged that certain cryptocurrency-associated investors have fallen prey to a string of kidnappings. The police investigation comes on the heels of one recent case where a 60-year-old man was said to have had a finger severed by his captors, who were holding his crypto-millionaire son for ransom. This source claims it is the most recent of several kidnappings of cryptocurrency personalities that have taken place in France and Western Europe, marking a rising tide of violent crime in the industry.
Recent Case of Kidnapping with Rescue
In the latest case, a property owner from a cryptocurrency marketing firm was rescued from a house south of Paris on Saturday night. The 60-year-old man’s rescue came over two days after he was abducted. Allegedly, he was kidnapped using a delivery van at 10:30 am on Thursday morning while going for a walk on his own in the 14th arrondissement. Reportedly, during the robbery, four men with ski masks held him up. After being held for two days, he was saved during a police raid at 9pm Saturday night. He was held captive in a 20 km (12 miles) area south of Paris, in the Essonne region. During the raid, five suspects were detained at the property and are believed to be in their twenties.
Motive, Ransom, and Graphic Details
The authorities claim the victim’s son, identified as a ‘crypto-millionaire,’ was involved in plotting a ransom scheme. “The victim seems to have been the father of a man who was a crypto millionaire, and the crime was related to a ransom demand,” the state prosecutor said. As reported by the Le Parisien newspaper, the assailants had been demanding a certain ransom somewhere in the region of €5 to €7 million. The source claims this ransom was not paid. Horrifyingly, the victim was allegedly left without one of the fingers as a trophy by the tormentors. Reportedly, investigators were concerned about the mutilation because the police intervention was vital at the moment they intervened.
Frame of Reference for Historical Threats
As the narrative goes, the wife of the victim revealed to investigators that her spouse and their affluent son had, at some point, been threatened. As per one police informant, the father and his crypto-millionaire son jointly operated a crypto marketing business based in Malta. This indicates that the threat stalking them before the kidnapping was likely connected to their business dealings in the cryptocurrency marketing industry. The growing backdrop of threats constitutes circumstantial evidence that may suggest the existence of ‘anchors’ of premeditation and previous deception or perhaps pre-planned abductions associated with past collusions.
France’s Recent Relevant Developments
A wave of cryptocurrency-related kidnappings has occurred in France and other bordering countries. David Balland, a crypto entrepreneur with a company worth over $1 billion, was kidnapped with his partner on January 21 in Méreau, France. Balland had one of his fingers amputated during the ordeal. The perpetrators arrived late at night and walked away with Balland, while his partner was taken separately. Balland was taken to a ranch house in Chateauroux, where some of his fingers were amputated. Balland’s business associates reported the ransom demand and severed fingers to the police, who freed him in a police raid rescue operation.
The next day, his partner was discovered bound in the trunk of a vehicle in Paris. Nine suspects are under criminal investigation, including a 26-year-old ringleader with a police record for kidnapping. Another incident involving a French crypto influencer’s father in Dubai in December 2024 involved kidnapping him. The father, aged 56, was targeted in eastern France by kidnappers who claimed to have attacked his wife and daughter. A ransom demand was made to the influencer’s son, and the two women were liberated. The father spent a full day concealed within a vehicle trunk before being discovered near the city of Mans. These violent acts reveal an alarming focus on wealthy cryptocurrency investors.
European Wider Trends and Suspects are Being Interrogated
According to the source, other crypto-related kidnappings and their accomplices have surfaced in both Spain and Belgium within the past five months. This shows that the issue goes beyond France to other parts of Western Europe. These reports indicate that criminal syndicates are expanding their focus on people associated with cryptocurrencies and crypto wealth. In the most recent case, the suspects aged from 20 to 27 were reported to be actively interrogated by police on Sunday, May 4, as the remaining portions of the investigation surrounding the kidnapping were still ongoing. Law enforcement’s primary focus is to uncover the full range of the conspiracy behind these and other similar kidnappings.
