Five Convicted in Cryptocurrency Millionaire Blackmail and Torture Case
Five men have been convicted in connection with the blackmail and false imprisonment of two French cryptocurrency millionaires who were held captive for 52 hours in an East London flat last July.
Attack and Ordeal
The victims, both in their 20s, were ambushed in Shadwell and subsequently driven to a flat in Canning Town. Prosecutor Heidi Stonecliffe KC informed the Inner London Crown Court that the pair’s lavish lifestyles, “widely published on social media,” may have attracted unwanted attention.
Stonecliffe characterized the subsequent ordeal as “cold, hard torture.” Jurors were told that the two men were stripped, bound with tape and cable ties, beaten, and had boiling water poured over them. Under duress, they transferred $30,000 after the gang demanded $150,000.
Neither victim can be identified due to an allegation of sexual assault by two of the gang members. Although the jury acquitted the defendants of this charge, the nature of the allegation invokes laws designed to protect complainants.
Police Trace Leads to Arrests
A friend of the victims, who was dragged from the car during the initial abduction, managed to leave his phone inside the vehicle. This allowed police to trace the location of the Canning Town flat through the handset. Yasir Mohamed was arrested at the victims’ Earl’s Court Airbnb, where he had gone to access a second cryptocurrency wallet. Jurors cleared him of false imprisonment and could not reach a verdict on the charge of conspiracy to blackmail.
Gerson Borges and Mohamed Osman were convicted of conspiracy to blackmail and false imprisonment. William Adebisi and Julius George were found guilty of false imprisonment, while Isaac Bakoya pleaded guilty to the same charge. All five were acquitted of kidnap, possessing an imitation firearm, and sexual assault. Adel Sineen, who crashed the gang’s car into a lamppost during a high-speed police pursuit, was cleared of false imprisonment and admitted to dangerous driving. Ibrahim Mohamed, also known as Nino, who police allege directed the plot from abroad, has not been apprehended.
Defence Arguments Rejected
Defence barristers contended that the incident did not constitute kidnapping, suggesting the Frenchmen had traveled to East London to purchase cannabis and that the financial demands were largely legitimate. Stonecliffe refuted these claims, highlighting aggressive demands made by one gang member at the Airbnb.
Both victims declined to testify in person, citing fear of the gang. Detective Chief Inspector Laura Hillier stated that the case represented “a rare example of a conviction of this kind being secured without victim testimony.”
Criminal Histories and Broader Trends
Following the verdicts, the court heard that three of the convicted men had prior convictions for manslaughter, robbery, and possessing a handgun with ammunition.
The case highlights a concerning trend of “wrench attacks,” or violent real-world assaults targeting cryptocurrency holders, which have escalated globally. CertiK reported 52 such incidents worldwide in the first half of 2026, a one-third increase from the previous year. Of these, 39 occurred in Europe and 33 in France, with a recorded financial exposure of $124.1 million. French prosecutors have charged 88 individuals in connection with this wave of crime.
While the victims in this instance were French, the attack, arrests, and trial all took place in the UK. Britain has seen its own share of similar cases, including the jailing of three teenagers for a $4.3 million knife-point robbery in Hoxton and the conviction of four individuals in a London court for the kidnapping of a Belgian barber mistakenly believed to possess a significant Bitcoin fortune.
All six men, including Sineen, are scheduled to be sentenced in September.
