French authorities have arrested five suspects after a magistrate and her mother were held captive last week for about 30 hours in a cryptocurrency ransom plot, prosecutors said on Sunday. During a press conference later on Friday, the Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran said the magistrate’s partner – who was not home when the pair were abducted overnight Wednesday to Thursday – had a leading position in a cryptocurrency startup. The captors threatened to mutilate their victims if the transfer was not made quickly, Dran told reporters, declining to specify the amount demanded. In January 2025, kidnappers seized the French crypto boss David Balland and his partner.
Balland co-founded a crypto firm called Ledger, valued at the time at more than $1bn. The kidnappers cut off his finger and demanded a hefty ransom. Lyon’s prosecutor noted that the magistrate’s partner, who was not home when the abduction occurred, held a senior role in a cryptocurrency startup. The captors threatened to mutilate the victims unless the transfer was completed quickly, with prosecutors declining to disclose the demanded amount.
In a related development, prosecutors said that in January 2025 kidnappers seized the French crypto boss David Balland and his partner. Balland co-founded Ledger, a crypto firm valued at more than $1 billion at the time. The assailants cut off his finger and demanded a substantial ransom, underscoring the high-risk nature of criminal activity tied to the crypto sector. Authorities did not disclose the ransom figure, and investigations into the case are continuing as law enforcement pursue charges against those arrested.
Leave a Reply