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The man was kidnapped Thursday morning in Paris, the
prosecutor's office said Sunday.
“The victim turned out to be the father of a man who made his
fortune in cryptocurrencies, and the incident was accompanied by
a ransom demand,” its statement said, without giving their names
or other specifics about their identities.
Police investigators located the hostage in a house in the
Essonne region south of Paris, from which he was rescued on
Saturday night, the prosecutor's office said.
It said he was treated for injuries but gave no details. French
media reported that the alleged hostage-takers cut off one of
the man's fingers.
Police detained 5 people — four were in or close to the house
where the man was held captive, while the fifth was at the wheel
of a vehicle thought to have been used for the alleged
abduction, the prosecutor’s office said.
It said the police investigation is looking at an array of
possible criminal charges, including kidnapping “with torture or
a barbaric act.”
In January, police said a co-founder of French crypto-wallet
firm Ledger, David Balland, was also kidnapped with his wife
from their home in the region of Cher of central France.
Police said they made 10 arrests and that the alleged kidnappers
demanded a ransom in cryptocurrency from another of Ledger's
co-founders.
A raid by France's elite National Gendarmerie Intervention Group
unit that specializes in hostage situations freed Balland the
next day, followed the day after that by the liberation, again
by the GIGN, of his wife, found tied up in a vehicle, police
said.
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