London Gang Convicted in $150,000 Crypto Extortion Case Secured Without Victim Testimony

Five men have been convicted at Inner London Crown Court for their roles in the 52-hour extortion and abuse of two French cryptocurrency millionaires, securing a rare prosecution success achieved without the victims testifying in court.

The victims, both in their 20s, were ambushed in Shadwell last July and driven to a flat in Canning Town. Prosecutor Heidi Stonecliffe KC told the court that the victims were stripped, bound with tape and cable ties, beaten, and had boiling water poured over them in what she described as “cold, hard torture.” The gang demanded $150,000, receiving $30,000 in digital asset transfers before police intervened.

Neither victim gave evidence in person after expressing fear of retaliation from the gang. Detective Chief Inspector Laura Hillier stated after the verdict that the prosecution was “a rare example of a conviction of this kind being secured without victim testimony.” Metropolitan Police Flying Squad detectives successfully built the case through digital forensics, phone tracking, and financial trails.

The Flying Squad investigation was launched after a friend pulled from the victims’ car accidentally left his mobile phone inside. Police tracked the handset’s location directly to the Canning Town flat. Investigators subsequently arrested Yasir Mohamed at the victims’ Earl’s Court Airbnb, where he had driven to access a second crypto wallet.

Jury verdicts delivered at Inner London Crown Court saw Gerson Borges and Mohamed Osman convicted of conspiracy to blackmail and false imprisonment. William Adebisi and Julius George were convicted of false imprisonment, while Isaac Bakoya admitted the charge. Jurors cleared all defendants of kidnap, possessing an imitation firearm, and sexual assault. Reporting restrictions remain in place protecting the victims’ identities under legal protections for sexual assault allegations.

Yasir Mohamed was cleared of false imprisonment, while the jury was unable to reach a verdict on his conspiracy to blackmail charge. Prosecutors revealed that the plot was masterminded from abroad by Ibrahim Mohamed, also known as Nino, who has not been arrested.

A sixth man, Adel Sineen, was cleared of false imprisonment but admitted to dangerous driving after crashing the gang’s getaway car into a lamppost at 70 mph during a police chase. Following the verdicts, the court heard that three of the convicted men had previous convictions for manslaughter, robbery, and possessing a handgun with ammunition.

Defence barristers argued during trial that no kidnap took place, claiming the victims had traveled to East London to purchase cannabis and that money demands were legitimate debts. Stonecliffe rejected the assertion, highlighting aggressive demands made by gang members at the victims’ rental property.

Stonecliffe noted that the victims’ lifestyles, which had been “widely published on social media,” likely exposed them to targeted physical extortion. Such real-world extortion attempts, known as “wrench attacks,” have surged rapidly. Blockchain security firm CertiK verified 52 such physical attacks worldwide in the first half of 2026, marking a 33 percent increase from the previous year.

Europe has become the center of physical crypto violence, accounting for 39 of the 52 global incidents in 2026. France recorded 33 cases with $124.1 million in total exposure, leading French prosecutors to charge 88 people. Similar violent plots in London include three teenagers jailed over a $4.3 million knifepoint robbery in Hoxton and four men convicted over the kidnapping of a Belgian barber mistakenly targeted for Bitcoin.

All six men involved in the case, including Sineen, will be sentenced in September.