Five men have been convicted over the blackmail and false imprisonment of two French cryptocurrency millionaires who were held for 52 hours in an east London flat last July, according to the Daily Mail report cited by Decrypt.
The victims, both in their 20s, were ambushed in Shadwell and driven to a flat in Canning Town. Prosecutor Heidi Stonecliffe KC told Inner London Crown Court that their lifestyles had been "widely published on social media" and may have drawn unwanted attention.
Stonecliffe described the treatment of the pair as "cold, hard torture." Jurors heard that the victims were stripped, bound with tape and cable ties, beaten, and had boiling water poured over them. The gang demanded $150,000, and the two men transferred $30,000.
Neither victim can be identified. One of them alleged a sexual assault by two members of the group, and although the jury cleared those defendants on that allegation, laws protecting complainants still apply.
Phone left in car helped police trace the flat
The investigation was handled by the Flying Squad. A friend who had been dragged from the car left his phone inside it, allowing police to trace the location of the flat through the handset.
Yasir Mohamed was arrested at the victims' Airbnb in Earl's Court, where he had driven in an attempt to reach a second wallet. Jurors cleared him of false imprisonment and were unable to agree on the conspiracy to blackmail count.
Convictions, acquittals and one suspect still at large
Gerson Borges and Mohamed Osman were convicted of conspiracy to blackmail and false imprisonment. William Adebisi and Julius George were convicted of false imprisonment, while Isaac Bakoya admitted that offense.
All of the defendants were cleared of kidnap, possessing an imitation firearm and sexual assault. Adel Sineen, who crashed the gang's car into a lamppost during a 70 mph pursuit, was cleared of false imprisonment and admitted dangerous driving.
Police say the man who directed the plot from abroad, Ibrahim Mohamed, also known as Nino, has not been arrested.
Defense disputed kidnapping claim
Defense barristers argued there had been no kidnap, saying the Frenchmen had gone to east London to buy cannabis and that the demands made during the episode were largely legitimate. Stonecliffe rejected that account and pointed to aggressive demands made by one gang member to the Airbnb.
Neither victim gave evidence in person, saying they were too afraid of the gang. Detective Chief Inspector Laura Hillier said in a statement that the case was "a rare example of a conviction of this kind being secured without victim testimony."
After the verdicts, the court heard that three of those found guilty had previous convictions for manslaughter, robbery and possessing a handgun with ammunition.
Europe's rise in crypto wrench attacks
The report placed the case in the context of so-called wrench attacks, violent offline assaults targeting crypto holders. CertiK verified 52 such incidents worldwide in the first half of 2026, up by a third from a year earlier.
Of the cases recorded by the blockchain security firm, 39 took place in Europe and 33 in France, with recorded exposure of $124.1 million. French prosecutors have charged 88 people in connection with that wave of cases.
Although the victims in this case were French, the attack, arrests and trial all took place in the UK. Britain has also seen similar cases, including the jailing of three teenagers over a $4.3 million knife-point robbery in Hoxton and the conviction of four people in a London court over the kidnapping of a Belgian barber wrongly believed to hold a Bitcoin fortune.
All six defendants, including Sineen, are scheduled to be sentenced in September.