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Crypto crime was particularly violent this week, with a very alarming kidnapping of Ledger co-founder David Balland and his wife (who have since been rescued by police).
![In the courts
At least eight people have been arrested in connection to the kidnapping of the co-founder of Ledger, a popular cryptocurrency hardware wallet. David Balland and his wife were kidnapped from their home in France early on January 21 by a group who demanded a large cryptocurrency ransom. The group cut off one of Balland’s fingers, sending it to his associates and demanding ransom from them and family members. However, police were able to locate Balland and his wife on the night of January 22.26 “That’s 7 crypto wrench attacks in the first 3 weeks of this year. Unprecedented acceleration,” wrote Jameson Lopp, using slang to refer to physical attacks on people known to hold large sums of crypto.27 Lopp maintains an ongoing list of people who have been attacked in attempted or successful cryptocurrency thefts.
The crypto entrepreneur who called himself “The Godfather” and an LA Sheriff’s deputy have both pleaded guilty to charges including criminal conspiracy against rights and tax charges [I68]. “The Godfather”, actually Adam Iza, hired members of the Sheriff’s department to serve as “his personal enforcers against his enemies”, using them to extort, intimidate, and set people up for arrest. The deputy who pleaded guilty, Eric Saavedra, also abused his access to LASD databases to obtain personal information on Iza’s enemies, and abused his authority to obtain search warrants against those people.](https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/113/884/471/800/471/545/original/b341442e83db7a77.png "In the courts
At least eight people have been arrested in connection to the kidnapping of the co-founder of Ledger, a popular cryptocurrency hardware wallet. David Balland and his wife were kidnapped from their home in France early on January 21 by a group who demanded a large cryptocurrency ransom. The group cut off one of Balland’s fingers, sending it to his associates and demanding ransom from them and family members. However, police were able to locate Balland and his wife on the night of January 22.26 “That’s 7 crypto wrench attacks in the first 3 weeks of this year. Unprecedented acceleration,” wrote Jameson Lopp, using slang to refer to physical attacks on people known to hold large sums of crypto.27 Lopp maintains an ongoing list of people who have been attacked in attempted or successful cryptocurrency thefts.
The crypto entrepreneur who called himself “The Godfather” and an LA Sheriff’s deputy have both pleaded guilty to charges including criminal conspiracy against rights and tax charges [I68]. “The Godfather”, actually Adam Iza, hired members of the Sheriff’s department to serve as “his personal enforcers against his enemies”, using them to extort, intimidate, and set people up for arrest. The deputy who pleaded guilty, Eric Saavedra, also abused his access to LASD databases to obtain personal information on Iza’s enemies, and abused his authority to obtain search warrants against those people.")
Crypto crime was particularly violent this week, with a very alarming kidnapping of Ledger co-founder David Balland and his wife (who have since been rescued by police).