In France, the police reportedly saved the father of a wealthy crypto entrepreneur in a nighttime raid, after he had been taken hostage to obtain a ransom. The alleged kidnappers are said to have cut off a finger of the man, and the police investigation is considering criminal charges, including kidnapping “with torture or barbaric act.”
France: the kidnapping of the crypto entrepreneur’s father and the finger cutting
In France, a case of has just occurred involving the kidnapping of the father of a wealthy crypto entrepreneur, held hostage with a ransom demand.
Specifically, the 60-year-old man had been kidnapped in broad daylight at 10:30 on Thursday morning while walking on a street in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. Four men with balaclavas forced him to get into a delivery van.
The French prosecutor stated as follows:
“The victim turned out to be the father of a man who made a fortune with cryptocurrencies and the incident was accompanied by a ransom request”
The French media reported that the man had a finger cut off and it was feared that, if he had not been rescued, he could have suffered further mutilations.
Last Saturday evening, in a raid at 9:00 PM, the man was freed by armed police in a house 20 km south of Paris, in the Essonne area.
For this case, the police have arrested five people: four were inside or near the house where the man was held prisoner, while the fifth was at the wheel of a vehicle that is believed to have been used for the alleged kidnapping.
Now, the police investigation is evaluating a series of possible criminal charges, including kidnapping “with torture or barbaric act.”
France and crypto kidnapping: the case of the Ledger co-founder
It seems that the current case is a confirmation that the kidnappers are targeting people in the crypto sector to extort money from them.
In fact, last January, even David Balland, co-founder of the crypto company Ledger, was kidnapped along with his partner in their home in Méreau, near Bourges, in central France.
In practice, the attackers arrived at Balland’s house in the early hours of the morning, taking him and his partner and separating them. Balland was taken to a house in the city of Châteauroux, where, even he had a finger cut off.
Here, the police were contacted by Balland’s business partner, who received the video of the finger and the demand for a large ransom in cryptocurrencies, amounting to about 10 million euros.
Immediately after, the co-founder of Ledger was released by the police in a raid. However, the next day, his partner was found tied up in the trunk of a car in a parking lot in the Essonne area, south of Paris.
There are nine suspects for this case, including the alleged ringleader, 26 years old, who has a police record for a previous kidnapping.
Crypto crime 2025: the interview with Buonanno from Chainlysis
While some types of crimes remain the oldest, such as the case of kidnapping and holding hostage with a ransom request, in the crypto sector it seems that there is an evolution.
In the interview by TheCryptonomist with Nicola Buonanno of Chainalysis, it generally emerged that crimes committed with crypto are becoming increasingly sophisticated and personalized.
Besides the hackers who commit thefts, Buonanno explains that cryptos are used in a wide range of illicit activities, from threats to national security to organized crime, including fraud against consumers.
At the moment, the main attack vector remains the compromise of private keys, responsible for 43.8% of the funds stolen globally.
Not only that, Buonanno explains that although DeFi represents the highest share of stolen assets, there is also a significant growth in attacks targeting centralized services. The culminating case is that of Bybit.
