Cold Wallet Ledger co-founder kidnapped and rescued! French police arrest 10 suspects and recover encryption coin ransom

David Balland, co-founder of the well-known French Cryptocurrency cold wallet company Ledger, and his partner were kidnapped in central France recently, shocking the entire crypto world. However, this thrilling kidnapping case has now come to a peaceful end thanks to the efforts of the police. The Paris Prosecutor's Office confirmed on Thursday that both victims have been successfully rescued.

According to Bloomberg, the incident occurred early Tuesday morning when David Balland was kidnapped by intruders in his home. He was rescued by the police on Wednesday evening, while his partner was also held hostage until Thursday.

It is understood that the kidnappers have separated the two and demanded a huge ransom from another co-founder of Ledger, stipulating that it can only be paid in cryptocurrency. This terrifying incident has once again shaken the entire industry.

During the press conference on Thursday, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau revealed: 'The kidnappers successfully obtained some ransom, but fortunately, we have traced almost all of the funds and quickly frozen and seized them.'

She further explained that the police have arrested 10 suspects involved, including 9 males and 1 female, aged between 20 and 40, most of whom have criminal records.

Ledger is a top brand in the Crypto Assets field, focusing on developing hardware wallets that allow investors to securely store Crypto Assets. The company successfully raised 100 million euros (approximately 104 million US dollars) in 2023, with a valuation as high as 1.3 billion euros.

In 2019, Ledger established a dedicated factory in the small town of Vierzon in central France to produce hardware wallets. The company is currently headquartered in Paris, with a total of approximately 700 employees.

As a co-founder of the company, David Balland has been fully committed since the establishment of Ledger in 2014, and served as the director of the Vierzon factory from 2019 to 2021.

According to the prosecution, David Balland was kidnapped and forcibly stuffed into a car, then transferred to another secret location where he was subjected to violent treatment, resulting in serious injuries to one of his hands, and is currently receiving medical treatment. As for his partner, she was found in Etampes, south of Paris, where she was strapped to the car and could not move.

The Paris prosecutor pointed out that this rescue operation was jointly carried out by the elite police and the information security team, and conducted comprehensive tracking from physical to online, ultimately successfully dismantling the kidnapping operation and rescuing the victims.

The co-founder of cold wallet Ledger was kidnapped and rescued! French police arrested 10 suspects and recovered the ransom in encryption coins. This article was first published in "Blocklike".