Florida Teens Kidnap Cryptocurrency Event Organizer, Steal $4 Million Worth of Cryptocurrency

BlockBeats News, May 10th, Three teenagers from Florida were charged with gunpoint kidnapping a man, taking him to a remote desert area outside Las Vegas, and stealing $4 million worth of cryptocurrency and other digital assets. Belal Ashraf and Austin Fletcher, both 16 years old from Pasco County, and another teenager face charges including robbery, kidnapping, and extortion, records show. A juvenile court judge had previously certified Ashraf and Fletcher as adults.

Prosecutors said at Fletcher's probable cause hearing on Friday that the third teenager is no longer in the U.S. The individuals are accused of stealing $4 million worth of cryptocurrency and NFTs. In November of last year, a man reported that three youths had kidnapped him at gunpoint, taken him to a remote desert area, and stolen millions of dollars in assets from him, documents show.

That evening, the victim was attending a cryptocurrency-related event at a business in downtown Las Vegas, police said. The victim later returned to his apartment building and parked his car. The three suspects then approached him, forced him into the back seat of their vehicle. The documents state: "(The victim) was told that if he cooperated, he would live to see tomorrow; if he did not, they had his father in their control and would kill him." "(The victim's) head was covered with a towel, and he was warned by the suspects not to look at them."

Police said the youths demanded the victim provide his password and threatened him to gain access to his financial accounts. The victim could also hear, via a phone speaker, the suspects seemingly talking directly to someone else over the phone. Police suspect that the three youths later took the victim to the White Mountains area of Arizona, over 70 miles from Las Vegas and over an hour's drive away. The victim walked alone for five miles in the desert before reaching a gas station, from where he called a friend to pick him up.