A London jury has convicted five people over the kidnapping and torture of two French crypto millionaires, both in their 20s, who were held for ransom in cryptocurrency. The jury reached its verdict without hearing from the victims, who refused to testify because they feared the gang. A judge will now determine sentencing, expected in September.
The two men had traveled from France to London and were staying in Kensington. Their lavish lifestyle, displayed on social media, drew the attention of criminals. During a trip through the city, three masked men armed with a gun and a knife forced the pair into their own car and drove them to a flat in the Rathbone East complex in Canning Town.
52 hours of captivity
The victims said they were held for 52 hours and given only one spicy KFC wing to eat. One said he was forced to drink water from a toilet. The men said they had boiling water poured on their bodies, cigarettes stubbed out in their mouths and on their skin, and were bound with tape and cable ties, with socks stuffed in their mouths. The gang threatened to rape one victim's girlfriend and demanded $150,000 in cryptocurrency.
The victims transferred $30,000 in digital assets. When no further payment arrived, one man was released while the other was taken away; he later said he believed he had been sold to another gang seeking more money.
Rescue traced through a phone
The men were saved because of a friend who had been in the car during the attack. The kidnappers chose not to abduct him and threw him out, but his smartphone was left inside unnoticed. He reached west London and persuaded a McDonald's security guard to call emergency services. Police then traced the gang's hideout through the phone.
Officers brought in the victims' girlfriend, who waited in a rented flat. When one of the criminals arrived to access another crypto wallet, police were waiting and arrested him. Investigators later found the scheme had been coordinated from abroad, and the group's alleged organizer, Ibrahim Mohamed, remains at large. Two defendants were convicted of conspiracy to blackmail and false imprisonment, while three others were convicted of false imprisonment.
Rise in attacks on crypto investors
CertiK analysts recorded 52 publicly known attacks on crypto investors aimed at stealing cryptocurrency in the first half of the year, a 33.3% rise from 39 incidents in the first half of 2025. Most cases occurred in France, where a tax official was arrested this winter on suspicion of selling data on crypto millionaires to criminals.
