The London crypto kidnapping convictions handed down at Inner London Crown Court close a case in which two French nationals, described in court proceedings as cryptocurrency millionaires, were held captive for more than 52 hours and forced to transfer $30,000 in digital assets under torture.
London Crypto Kidnapping Convictions: What the Jury Decided
A jury found Gerson Borges and Mohamed Osman guilty of conspiracy to blackmail and false imprisonment. Julius George, Isaac Bakoya and William Adebisi were convicted of false imprisonment. The defendants were cleared of kidnapping, possessing an imitation firearm and sexual assault.
International Business Times has reported six convictions in the case; most accounts, including the original court reporting, put the figure at five. The discrepancy has not been reconciled against published court records, so the five-conviction figure from the trial proceedings is used here.
UK reporting restrictions prevent identification of two defendants because of laws protecting alleged victims in sexual offence cases, after one victim alleged sexual assault during the ordeal. The jury acquitted on those charges.
Ibrahim Mohamed, known as ‘Nino’, was identified by prosecutors as the alleged organiser. He is said to have directed the group from overseas via WhatsApp and Snapchat and remains at large.
Victims Were Described as Millionaires. Their Social Media Made Them Targets.
The two men, both in their 20s, travelled from France to London and were staying in Kensington. The Sun reported the pair were described in proceedings as crypto millionaires, meaning the $30,000 extracted represented a fraction of their apparent holdings. Prosecutors told the court their social media presence and visible wealth made them attractive targets.
After leaving their rented Mercedes in Shadwell to arrange a cannabis purchase in east London, three masked men carrying a gun and knife forced them back into the vehicle and drove them to a flat in Canning Town.
Over roughly 52 hours, prosecutors said the victims were stripped, bound with tape and cable ties, beaten, burned with cigarettes and scalded with boiling water. The gang initially demanded $150,000 in crypto. When the victims demonstrated they could not access further funds, transfers stopped at $30,000. One victim, still captive when police arrived, told investigators he believed he had been ‘sold’ to another criminal group intending to continue the extortion.
One victim was released earlier; the other was found with his hands still bound and visible cigarette burns on his forehead and cheek when Metropolitan Police Flying Squad officers intercepted the suspects’ vehicle after a pursuit through residential streets reportedly reaching 70 mph.
The investigation turned on a forgotten mobile phone. A third French national who had travelled with the victims escaped the initial ambush but left his phone inside the Mercedes. He reached a McDonald’s in Earl’s Court and persuaded a security guard to call emergency services. Officers used the phone’s location data alongside CCTV to identify the Canning Town address.
Wrench Attacks Are Becoming the Vector of Choice
Security researchers use the term ‘wrench attack’ for physical coercion designed to force crypto transfers, treating human access as easier to compromise than on-chain security. The London crypto kidnapping convictions are one data point in a pattern that now spans jurisdictions.
Earlier this year, two Texas brothers pleaded guilty in a US federal case after holding a Minnesota family at gunpoint for more than eight hours and forcing the transfer of more than $8 million in cryptocurrency. Investigators traced them using physical evidence, rental records and surveillance footage.
France is tracking the acceleration closely. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez presented figures on 30 June 2026 showing authorities had recorded 77 cases involving kidnapping, unlawful detention, extortion or attempted offences connected to the crypto sector in 2026, already exceeding the 45 cases recorded across all of 2025, according to CryptoPotato. Around 200 people had been arrested in connection with attacks or preventive operations.
Nuñez presented those figures to the Association for the Development of Digital Assets and outlined a three-part security plan that includes intelligence sharing and the registration of 724 sector participants on rapid identification and alert platforms, per Mondaq. The same reporting notes that a French tax official has separately been accused of selling cryptocurrency investor data to criminal networks, raising questions about how attackers identify targets beyond public social media.
French officials have repeatedly warned that organised criminal groups focus on individuals whose crypto wealth is visible online. The London case fits that pattern precisely. With ‘Nino’ still at large and coordinating remotely, the sentencing of the five convicted is unlikely to be the last chapter.
