In brief
- Five men have been convicted of false imprisonment after ambushing two French crypto millionaires and holding them for 52 hours in a London flat.
- The victims, who did not testify, transferred $30,000 of a $150,000 demand.
- Prosecutors said the men’s lifestyles, much of it posted on social media, may have drawn the gang’s attention.
Five men have been convicted over the blackmail and false imprisonment of two French cryptocurrency millionaires held for 52 hours in an East London flat last July, the Daily Mail reported.
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 attracted unwanted attention.
Stonecliffe described what followed as “cold, hard torture.” Jurors heard the pair were stripped, bound with tape and cable ties, beaten, and had boiling water poured over them. They transferred $30,000 after the gang demanded $150,000.
Neither victim can be identified, as one alleged a sexual assault by two of the gang. Although the jury cleared them, the allegation engages laws protecting complainants.
The Flying Squad investigation
A friend dragged from the car left his phone inside it, and police were able to trace the location of the flat through the handset. Yasir Mohamed was arrested at the victims’ Earl’s Court Airbnb, where he had driven to reach a second wallet; jurors cleared him of false imprisonment and could not agree on conspiracy to blackmail.
Gerson Borges and Mohamed Osman were convicted of conspiracy to blackmail and false imprisonment. William Adebisi and Julius George were convicted of false imprisonment, and Isaac Bakoya admitted it. All 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. The man police say directed the plot from abroad, Ibrahim Mohamed, also known as Nino, has not been arrested.
Defence barristers argued there was no kidnap, saying the Frenchmen had come to east London to buy cannabis and the demands were largely legitimate. Stonecliffe rejected that, pointing to the aggressive demands one gang member made to the Airbnb.
Both victims declined to give evidence in person, saying they were too afraid of the gang. Detective Chief Inspector Laura Hillier said in a statement the case was “a rare example of a conviction of this kind being secured without victim testimony.”
After the verdicts had been delivered, the court heard that three of those found guilty had previous convictions for manslaughter, robbery and possessing a handgun with ammunition.
Europe’s wrench attack map
“Wrench attacks,” or violent real-world assaults on crypto holders, have escalated over the past year. CertiK verified 52 worldwide in the first half of 2026, up by a third from a year ago. Of those 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 over the wave there.
In this case, while the victims were French, the attack, arrests and trial took place in the UK. Britain has had its own run of cases, with three teenagers jailed over a $4.3 million knife-point robbery in Hoxton, and four convicted in a London court over the kidnapping of a Belgian barber wrongly believed to hold a Bitcoin fortune.
All six, Sineen included, will be sentenced in September.
