French-Moroccan man sentenced to 25 years in prison for France crypto kidnaps
A French-Moroccan man convicted of organizing some of the recent daring kidnappings of crypto figures in France has been sentenced to 25 years in prison. The news comes amid a growing debate in French society over the massive number of data leaks in the country that are compromising personal security. Moroccan court sends crypto kidnapper to prison The Court of Appeal in the Moroccan city of Tangier gave Mohamed Hamid Bajou the harsh sentence on Thursday, May 21, local and French media reported. The 25-year-old man is the alleged mastermind of a gang that committed a series of brazen abductions of wealthy individuals in France, including prominent people from the crypto space. Bajou was facing serious charges, the French crypto information portal Journal du Coin noted in an article on Saturday, quoting a post by the Moroccan news website Tanja7 from Friday. These included establishing a criminal group, kidnapping, unlawful detention and torture for ransom, attempted premeditated murder, illegal possession of firearms, and drug trafficking. One of Bajous victims was David Balland, a co-founder of Ledger, the French company known for its popular hardware cryptocurrency wallets. The crypto entrepreneur was abducted in January 2025 along with his female partner at their home in Central France. The attackers demanded a