French police arrest five over crypto-linked magistrate kidnapping

French authorities have arrested five suspects after a magistrate and her mother were held captive last week for about 30 hours in a cryptocurrency ransom plot, prosecutors said on Sunday.

The arrests of four men and one woman followed the discovery on Friday of the 35-year-old magistrate and her 67-year-old mother, found injured in a garage in the south-eastern Drôme department, the Lyon public prosecutor’s office said.

During a press conference later on Friday, the Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran said the magistrate’s partner – who was not home when the pair were abducted overnight Wednesday to Thursday – had a leading position in a cryptocurrency startup.

A massive police search involving 160 officers was launched after he received a message and a photo of his partner from the kidnappers demanding a ransom to be paid in cryptocurrency.

The captors threatened to mutilate their victims if the transfer was not made quickly, Dran told reporters, declining to specify the amount demanded.

The two women managed to free themselves and raise the alarm. They were rescued on Friday morning in Bourg-lès-Valence without any ransom being paid, according to the prosecutor.

French authorities have been dealing with a string of kidnappings and extortion attempts targeting the families of wealthy individuals dealing in cryptocurrencies.

In January 2025, kidnappers seized the French crypto boss David Balland and his partner. Balland co-founded a crypto firm called Ledger, valued at the time at more than $1bn. The kidnappers cut off his finger and demanded a hefty ransom. He was freed the next day, and his partner was found tied up in the boot of a car outside Paris.

In May, the father of a man who ran a Malta-based cryptocurrency company was kidnapped by four hooded men in Paris. The victim, whose finger was also severed by the kidnappers and for whom a ransom of several million euros was demanded, was released 58 hours later in a raid by the security forces.