Three Florida teenagers have been charged with kidnapping and stealing $4 million in cryptocurrency in Las Vegas and will be tried as adults.
Two 16-year-old teenagers from Pasco County, Florida – Belal Ashraf and Austin Fletcher – along with an unnamed teenager are facing serious charges of kidnapping, robbery, and extortion. Due to the particularly serious nature of the case, the juvenile court judge decided to try Ashraf and Fletcher as adults.
The bold kidnapping targeting cryptocurrency investors
According to court records, the incident occurred around November of last year when the three suspects ambushed the victim just after he returned to his apartment from a cryptocurrency-related event. This group is accused of forcing the victim into a vehicle and threatening him to turn over his digital assets.
Court documents state: 'The victim was warned that if he cooperated, there would still be a chance of survival, but if he did not cooperate, this group had captured his father and would kill him.' Investigators also suspect that, in addition to the three teenagers, there was another individual who contacted and coordinated with this group during the commission of the crime.
After seizing property worth approximately $4 million, including cryptocurrency and NFTs, this group transported the victim across the state line into Nevada and released him in White Hills, Arizona. The victim then had to walk about 8 kilometers to a gas station to contact friends for help.
At the hearing on May 9, the prosecutor revealed that the third teenager had left the territory of the United States. Fletcher's defense attorney proposed that his client be placed under house arrest, but Las Vegas Justice Court Judge Daniel Westmeyer set bail at up to $4 million. Three days earlier, Judge Noreen Demonte had allowed Ashraf to be released on the condition of electronic monitoring.