Police nab final suspect in Ledger co-founder David Balland €10M ransom kidnapping after year on the run

Spanish authorities have arrested the last fugitive suspect linked to the January 2025 kidnapping and €10 million crypto ransom plot targeting Ledger co‑founder David Balland, closing a cross‑border manhunt that began after the attack in central France. The suspect had reportedly been on the run for about a year before being detained in Spain following cooperation between French and Spanish police units investigating the organized gang behind the abduction. Balland and his wife were kidnapped from their home in Méreau, near Ledger’s headquarters, on January 21, 2025, by a group that demanded a €10 million ransom in Bitcoin, sending a video of Balland’s severed finger to another Ledger co‑founder to pressure payment. French investigators sent a small Bitcoin payment (around €100,000) to stall and trace the kidnappers on‑chain, while the GIGN tactical unit and more than 200 gendarmes carried out raids that freed Balland and his wife and led to the arrest of 10 initial suspects on charges including kidnapping in an organized gang, torture, and armed extortion, offenses punishable by life imprisonment. The newly arrested suspect is understood to be one of the remaining alleged accomplices who had escaped that first wave of arrests, and his capture is part of the broader judicial process against the network. The case has been closely watched in the crypto industry because it highlights how prominent founders with publicly-known wealth can become targets for violent, ransom-based attacks, and how law enforcement can use blockchain tracing and international cooperation to disrupt such schemes. For Ledger, one of France’s flagship crypto hardware wallet companies, the incident also underscored both the personal security risks facing executives and the role of their technical expertise in helping authorities track and recover ransom payments.

✨ AI-generated background, compiled from web sources — not editorial content.

More coverage

• Kidnappers of French crypto figure and his wife arrested after ... (lemonde.fr)
• Spanish Police Arrest Suspect in Ledger Co-Founder ... - Binance (binance.com)
• Final Suspect Arrested in Dramatic French-Spanish Police Operation (cryptorank.io)

Explore the topic

• Ledger
• Kidnapping