Florida teens accused of kidnapping man at gunpoint and stealing $4m in crypto
Three Florida teenagers are facing charges of kidnapping, robbery, and extortion after allegedly abducting a man at gunpoint and stealing $4 million in crypto and non-fungible tokens.
According to local media, two of the suspects, both 16 years old from Pasco County, Florida, are being tried as adults, with one held on $4 million bail and the other placed under house arrest with electronic monitoring. A third teen reportedly fled the country and remains at large.
The trio allegedly ambushed the victim in November after he was returning home from hosting a crypto event in Downtown Las Vegas, before driving him more than 70 miles out to a remote desert area near White Hills, Arizona.
There, the victim was threatened and told that if he didn’t cooperate, he wouldn’t “live to see another day.” He was also warned that his father would be killed if he resisted.
Under pressure, he handed over passwords to his crypto accounts, giving the attackers access to millions in digital assets, including NFTs. After draining his accounts, the teens allegedly dumped him in the desert, leaving him to walk five miles to a gas station where he managed to call a friend for help.
Investigators believe a fourth person may have been involved remotely. According to police reports, the victim overheard a phone call on speaker during the ordeal, suggesting someone was directing the teenagers or communicating with them in real time.
Authorities have not yet identified this individual, but suspect they played a key role in orchestrating the attack.
The FBI is also assisting local law enforcement in the investigation, and a preliminary hearing for the two teens in custody is scheduled for June.
The incident adds to a rising number of violent crimes linked to digital assets, as crypto holders become increasingly targeted by kidnappers and extortionists.
As previously covered on crypto.news, earlier this year, Ledger co-founder David Balland was kidnapped from his home in France, with the abductors reportedly demanding a cryptocurrency ransom. He was rescued two days later in a police operation described by authorities as “ultra-sensitive.”
A few months earlier, Malaysian authorities arrested 14 individuals in connection with the kidnapping of two victims in Cyberjaya. The attackers received a $1.2 million ransom in crypto before releasing the hostages. Four suspects remain at large.
According to a GitHub list maintained by Casa co-founder Jameson Lopp, there have been 21 offline crypto robberies reported so far in 2025, following 28 incidents in 2024.
