Six men are accused of kidnapping three family members and their nanny from Chicago Townhouse in October 2024 in exchange for crypto-ransom. Before releasing, next to parched cleaning agents, the victims were allegedly stored for five days and forced to transfer almost $ 15 million in Bitcoin (BTC) Holdings.
The crypt issue of kidnapping is developing
From the 44-page FBI statement Niepitet last week, Details The kidnapping appeared from the intricate network of evidence collected by law enforcement agencies, including influences, unused ties, zippers and material from the mounting of car rental and speedy food restaurants.
Zehuan Wei, one of the accused, the 34-year-old, was caught on January 17 in California Post Border Post trying to go to the United States from Mexico. Since then, his first court in California appeared.
Five other men – Fan Zhang, Huajing Yan, Shender Jiang, Shiqiang Lian and Ye Cao – are accused of kidnapping with Wei. Some of these people reportedly went to China shortly after the arrest of Wei.
The victims, referred to as “advertising victims” in the statement, were first notified of their father’s fears via Wechat on October 27, which indicates that they were taken as hostages. The hijackers demanded the payment of ransom Bitcoin or ethereum, two of the most popular cryptographic assets.
$ 9 million is still missing
The event began when one of the reported kidnappers knocked on the door of the family, claiming that they accidentally destroyed their garage. By opening the door, several armed guys entered and caught family members. The boy said he was caught immediately from the shower.
Once in custody, the kidnappers put pressure on the boy to make more bitcoins shopping. They led him many times after Chicago, insisting on access to his discs. The group earned about $ 15 million of Bitcoin assets during their captivity.
After leading the White Ford Van to Airbnb in Forest Park, the victims stopped for one night before they went somewhere. Eventually, released on November 1 they went to the neighboring laundries calling for Uber to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Strangely enough, the son said that he was treated really nicely at all times of imprisonment, even though he claimed that he was hit with a weapon – led to being false.
Alleged kidnappers coming to the white van and with the assist of mobile phones were observed in Airbnb supervision cameras. At least six suspects found and compiled with this film FBI data Combining them with a crime – including DNA samples and personal items discovered in rentals.
The authorities followed the patterns of the suspects and stated that Wei and Zhang flew from Chicago to Las Vegas on November 1. On the same day they went to Los Angeles on the same day Jiang, Yan, Lian and Cao.
Later, the FBI verified that Lian followed him the next morning, and Jiang and Yan checked the flight from Tijuana in Mexico to Beijing.
For now, about $ 9 million of cryptocurrency assets remains unknown, asking questions about the whereabouts of the others funds.
A distinguished painting with Dall-E, chart from tradingview.com
