Five men have been convicted for their roles in the blackmail and false imprisonment of two French cryptocurrency millionaires who were held for 52 hours in an East London flat last July, the Daily Mail reported.

The victims, both in their twenties, were ambushed in Shadwell and driven to a flat in Canning Town. Prosecutor Heidi Stonecliffe KC told Inner London Crown Court that the victims' 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. The gang demanded $150,000, of which the victims transferred $30,000.

Neither victim can be identified, as one alleged a sexual assault by two gang members. Although the jury cleared the defendants on that charge, the allegation engages laws protecting complainants' anonymity.

Investigation and Convictions

A friend who was dragged from the victims' car had left his phone inside the vehicle, enabling police to trace the location of the flat through the handset.

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 to the charge. All were cleared of kidnap, possessing an imitation firearm, and sexual assault.

Yasir Mohamed was arrested at the victims' Earl's Court Airbnb, where he had driven in an attempt to access a second wallet. Jurors cleared him of false imprisonment and could not reach agreement on conspiracy to blackmail.

Adel Sineen, who crashed the gang's car into a lamppost during a 70 mph police 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 Arguments and Victim Testimony

Defence barristers argued there was no kidnap, claiming the Frenchmen had come to East London to purchase cannabis and that the demands were largely legitimate. Stonecliffe rejected that argument, pointing to the aggressive demands one gang member made at the Airbnb.

Both victims declined to give evidence in person, stating 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 verdicts were delivered, the court heard that three of those found guilty had previous convictions for manslaughter, robbery, and possessing a handgun with ammunition.

All six defendants, Sineen included, will be sentenced in September.

Wrench Attacks on the Rise Across Europe

"Wrench attacks" — violent real-world assaults on cryptocurrency holders — have escalated over the past year. Unlike traditional bank transfers, cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible by design, and self-custody wallets carry no institutional fraud protections, meaning funds extracted under duress are extremely difficult to recover. Blockchain security firm CertiK verified 52 such incidents worldwide in the first half of 2026, an increase of roughly one-third from a year earlier. Of those recorded, 39 took place in Europe and 33 in France, with recorded exposure totaling $124.1 million. French prosecutors have charged 88 people, including minors, in connection with the wave of attacks.

While the victims in this case were French, the attack, arrests, and trial all took place in the United Kingdom. Britain has experienced its own string of incidents: three teenagers were jailed over a $4.3 million knife-point robbery in Hoxton, and four were convicted in a London court for kidnapping a Belgian barber wrongly believed to hold a Bitcoin fortune.