French police frees kidnapped father of crypto millionaire

French police have freed the kidnapped father of a crypto millionaire. According to reports, the French police carried out a weekend raid, freeing a yet-to-be-identified man who was kidnapped in Paris to force his son to pay a ransom. According to prosecutors, the police successfully carried out the raid, arresting five people in the process. In the statement, the prosecutors mentioned that the kidnapped man was traced to an address in the Paris suburb of Essonne, which the police raided on Saturday. The man was abducted in the Southern 14th arrondissement region in Paris on the morning of May 1 by four men wearing ski masks who had bundled him into a car on the said date. French police rescue kidnapped victim According to the prosecutors, the victim was the father of a millionaire who made his fortune in crypto. “The victim appears to be the father of a man who made his fortune in cryptocurrencies, with the crime involving a ransom demand,” the prosecutor’s statement said. According to Le Parisien newspaper, the kidnappers had called for a ransom demand, mentioning an amount between five and seven million euros ($5.7 million and $7.9 million). A source close to the investigation told AFP that the kidnappers had already chopped off one of the father’s fingers, with threats to chop off others. “There were fears of other mutilations if police had not raided the property”, the source said. The prosecutors also noted that the number of arrests was raised to five from the initial four, highlighting the appearance of a fifth suspect. They mentioned that the fifth suspect was driving the vehicle likely used by the criminals for their operation, with the statement noting that they were all in their 20s. French interior minister Bruno Rataileau hailed the approach of the police toward the case. “A huge congratulations to the investigators who did an exceptional job in freeing this man and arresting his captors,” he said. He also specifically thanked Police Prefect Laurent Nunez and his staff for their prompt actions. The victim’s wife said during questioning by the authorities that her husband and son, who owns a marketing company managing digital assets in Malta, have been subject to threats in the past. Police set to investigate rise in crypto millionaire kidnappings The French police have opened an investigation into the kidnapping, charging the criminals with kidnapping, false imprisonment, and arbitrary detention of a hostage to obtain the execution of an order or condition, armed extortion. The crime was carried out by organized criminal gangs, with all of them also charged for their participation in criminal conspiracy. The investigation was carried out by the Cybercrime Brigade (BL2C) in collaboration with the BRI. Meanwhile, the police have promised to investigate the increase in kidnappings tied to ransom in digital assets in France. In a previous attempt, criminals kidnapped the co-founder of Ledger, a company specializing in safe-keeping digital assets using their wallets. The co-founder David Balland was abducted with his partner at their home near Bourges in France. The criminals also cut off a finger as a sign of warning. The police were alerted after Balland’s business partner received a video of the finger alongside a demand for ransom in cryptocurrency worth around 10 million euros. Balland was eventually freed in a raid, with the police finding his wife tied up in the boot of a car in the Essonne area car park the following day. The police charged nine suspects for the crime, with the gang leader, a 26-year-old, having a police record for kidnapping. Another incident in December 2024 saw the kidnappers take the father of a French crypto influencer based in Dubai. Attackers raided his home and forced him into a car after tying up his wife and daughter. The son received the ransom demands and contacted the police. The police freed his mother and sister immediately, while his father was eventually found in a car park in Normandy the next day.