Kidnapped father of crypto-millionaire freed in French police raid

PARIS: French police mounted a weekend raid to free a man who had been kidnapped in Paris to force his crypto-millionaire son to pay a ransom, prosecutors said, adding that five people were arrested.

The man, whose identity was not disclosed, was traced to an address in the Paris suburb of Essonne, which police raided late on Saturday, the prosecutors’ office said in a statement.

He had been abducted in Paris’s southern 14th arrondissement mid-morning on Thursday.

One police officer, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said four men wearing ski masks had bundled him into a delivery van.

“The victim appears to be the father of a man who made his fortune in cryptocurrencies, with the crime involving a ransom demand,” the prosecutors’ statement said.

Le Parisien newspaper reported that the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of between five million and seven million euros ($5.7 million and $7.9 million).

A source close to the investigation told AFP that one of the father’s fingers had been chopped off.

“There were fears of other mutilations” if police had not raided the property, the source said.

Prosecutors raised the number of arrests, from four given previously, after a fifth suspect was detained driving a vehicle “likely used by the criminals”. They were all aged in their 20s.

French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau hailed the “decisive” police operation to free the man, in a message on X.

The victim’s wife told investigators that her husband and the wealthy son — who both owned a crypto marketing firm in Malta — had been targeted by threats in the past, a police source said.

The kidnapping followed the abduction on January 21 of a French crypto boss and his partner.

That victim, David Balland, had co-founded a crypto firm, Ledger, valued at more than $1.0 billion.

Ballard’s finger was cut off by his kidnappers, who demanded a hefty ransom.

He was freed the next day, and his girlfriend was found tied up in the boot (trunk) of a car in the Paris suburb of Essonne.

Nine suspects are under criminal investigation in that case, including the suspected ringleader, a 26-year-old with a police record for a previous kidnapping.

Earlier in January, a 56-year-old man was found in the boot of a car near the city of Mans.

Several media reported that he was the father of a crypto-influencer based in Dubai who boasted online of his profits, and that a ransom was also demanded.

-AFP