Kidnappers in France target cryptocurrency entrepreneurs for ransom
PARIS — French police rescued the father of a wealthy cryptocurrency entrepreneur in a nighttime raid after he was taken hostage for ransom, the latest alleged criminal effort in France to extort people involved in the management of digital assets.
The man was kidnapped Thursday morning in Paris, the prosecutor’s office said Sunday.
“The victim turned out to be the father of a man who made his fortune in cryptocurrencies, and the incident was accompanied by a ransom demand,” its statement said, without giving their names or other specifics about their identities.
Police investigators located the hostage in a house in the Essonne region south of Paris, from which he was rescued on Saturday night, the prosecutor’s office said.
It said he was treated for injuries but gave no details. French media reported that the alleged hostage-takers cut off one of the man’s fingers.
Police detained 5 people — four were in or close to the house where the man was held captive, while the fifth was at the wheel of a vehicle thought to have been used for the alleged abduction, the prosecutor’s office said.
It said the police investigation is looking at an array of possible criminal charges, including kidnapping “with torture or a barbaric act.”
In January, police said a co-founder of French crypto-wallet firm Ledger, David Balland, was also kidnapped with his wife from their home in the region of Cher of central France.
Police said they made 10 arrests and that the alleged kidnappers demanded a ransom in cryptocurrency from another of Ledger’s co-founders.
A raid by France’s elite National Gendarmerie Intervention Group unit that specializes in hostage situations freed Balland the next day, followed the day after that by the liberation, again by the GIGN, of his wife, found tied up in a vehicle, police said.
‘Dawson’s Creek’ star James Van Der Beek has died at 48
Van Der Beek played Dawson Leery on the hit show Dawson's Creek. He announced his colon cancer diagnosis in 2024.
A Jan. 6 rioter pardoned by Trump was convicted of sexually abusing children
A handyman from Florida who received a pardon from President Trump for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was convicted on state charges of child sex abuse and exposing himself to a child.
A country-pop newcomer’s debut is your reinvention album of 2026
August Ponthier's Everywhere Isn't Texas is as much a fully realized introduction as a complete revival. Its an existential debut that asks: How, exactly, does the artist fit in here?
U.S. unexpectedly adds 130,000 jobs in January after a weak 2025
U.S. employers added 130,000 jobs in January as the unemployment rate dipped to 4.3% from 4.4% in December. Annual revisions show that job growth last year was far weaker than initially reported.
Greetings from Mexico City’s iconic boulevard, where a dog on a bike steals the show
Every week, more than 100,000 people ride bikes, skates and rollerblades past some of the best-known parts of Mexico's capital. And sometimes their dogs join them too.
February may be short on days — but it boasts a long list of new books
The shortest month of the year is packed with highly anticipated new releases, including books from Michael Pollan, Tayari Jones and the late Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa.
