US authorities have unsealed an indictment in opposition to three males accused of stealing not less than $6.5 million in a “violent theft spree concentrating on cryptocurrency house owners.”
The Justice Division stated in a press release Monday {that a} federal grand jury indicted three males for allegedly planning to kidnap and rob 4 folks round San Francisco and Los Angeles for his or her crypto.
The trio, Elijah Armstrong, Nino Chindavanh and Jayden Rucker, are alleged to have posed as supply drivers to power their means into residences and use threats of violence to extract crypto seed phrases.
So-called “wrench assaults” — robberies involving bodily threats or violence to power crypto holders to give up pockets credentials — have elevated globally since 2025. French authorities charged 88 folks in April with committing assaults in opposition to native crypto house owners.
US prosecutors claimed they recognized not less than 4 folks the trio focused from Nov. 22 till Dec. 31. One of many folks was allegedly compelled to switch $6.5 million in crypto to a pockets managed by the trio, in keeping with an unsealed indictment filed in a San Francisco federal courtroom.
One of many victims was allegedly compelled to switch $6.5 million in crypto to the attackers. Supply: PACER
“These people, as alleged, terrorized their victims within the hopes of stealing huge sums of cryptocurrency,” Craig Missakian, the US Lawyer for the Northern District of California, stated in a press release Monday. “The scheme was not solely refined, it was brazen, violent, and harmful.”
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Supply: FBI San Francisco
The three males have been arrested in December final 12 months and face costs of conspiracy to commit theft, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, tried theft, and tried kidnapping.
Armstrong and Rucker are scheduled to look in courtroom on Tuesday. Chindavanh is scheduled to look in courtroom on June 26.
Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs reported in Might final 12 months that wrench assaults have been on the rise due to the convenience with which unhealthy actors can collect private information on-line, the perceived pseudonymity of crypto transactions and the general public visibility of wealth within the crypto sector.
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