Kidnappers Held Man For $1.8M In Cryptocurrency, DA Says

UPTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Three men are facing charges for their role in stealing a New York City man's digital wallet containing cryptocurrency valued at $1.8 million, Manhattan prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Cesar "Fuego" Guzman, Allen "Joker" Nunez and Darrel "Bishop" Colon were indicted on felony charges of grand larceny, kidnapping, robbery, possession of stolen property, burglary and criminal use of a firearm, prosecutors said. The three men helped previously-indicted Louis Meza kidnap a man in November and steal his digital currency, prosecutors said.

The robbery scheme was orchestrated by Meza, but the three men indicted Tuesday played a key role in convincing the victim to hand over access to his digital wallet — which held $1.8 million of the cryptocurrency Ether, prosecutors said.

"Investors aren’t the only ones tracking the fluctuating values of digital currencies—everyone from sophisticated cybercriminals to old-school shakedown-and-stick-up scammers are keeping a close eye, too," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., said in a statement.

After Meza meet with the victim on Nov. 4 he insisted that the victim take a car service back to his Manhattan home, prosecutors said. Meza then directed the victim to get into a waiting minivan, in which Guzman, Nunez and Colon were lying in wait, prosecutors said.

Nunez posed as a car service driver and began driving the victim to Uptown Manhattan when Colon, hiding in the rear of the vehicle, jumped out and threatened the victim with a gun, prosecutors said. Colon forced the victim to hand over his phone, wallet, house keys and password to his digital wallet which were handed of to Meza and Guzman, prosecutors said.

Meza and Guzman went to the victim's apartment and entered using his keys while Nunez and Colon continued to drive the man around Uptown for about two hours, prosecutors said. Once inside, Meza and Guzman grabbed a box containing the victim's digital wallet and left the apartment with it in their possession, prosecutors said.

Meza gained access to the digital wallet using the password obtained by Colon and transferred the $1.8 million in Ether into his personal account, police said. The accused ringleader was indicted in December of 2017.

The victim was eventually able to escape from the minivan and call 911, prosecutors said. His identity was not revealed.

"As alleged in this case, the defendants worked together to carry out a kidnapping, armed robbery, and theft of more than $1.8 million in cryptocurrency, in a violent attack that demonstrates the vanishing line between street crime and cybercrime," Vance said in a statement.

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