Brothers Charged With $8 Million Crypto Kidnapping in Minnesota
Two brothers have been charged with kidnapping later than allegedly holding a Minnesota family at gunpoint for nine hours and stealing $8 million in cryptocurrency, U.S. prosecutors said Thursday.
Raymond Christian Garcia, 23, and Isiah Angelo Garcia, 24, were accused of storming a home in Grant, Minnesota, on Sept. 19, where they held a man, his father, and mother hostage. Prosecutors said Isiah Garcia forced one victim to transfer millions of dollars in digital assets into a wallet controlled by Raymond Garcia, before demanding more funds stored on a separate hardware wallet.
Court filings specify that the stolen assets included BTC and ETH, making the incident one of the largest cryptocurrency heists linked to a physical home invasion in U.S. history.
The ordeal prompted Mahtomedi Public School to cancel its homecoming football game that night, authorities said. “A violent kidnapping that stole $8 million and silenced a homecoming game is not just a crime. It is a blow to the sense of securety of everyone in Minnesota,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson said in a statement.
The FBI’s Minneapolis field office coordinated the response alongside local sheriff’s deputies, with agents noting that the use of cold wallets and rapid transfers complicated efforts to freeze the stolen funds.
Investigators traced the suspects through surveillance footage, a motel receipt, and a rental car, ultimately locating them in Waller, Texas. The brothers were arrested on Sept. 22, and prosecutors said Isiah Garcia confessed. They face federal kidnapping charges in addition to state charges of kidnapping, aggravated robbery, and burglary.
If convicted of federal kidnapping, each brother faces a potential life sentence, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Federal guidelines also include mandatory minimums of 20 years in such cases.
The case adds to a series of crypto-related abductions in the United States. Last year, a 28-year-old Italian man in New York said he was tortured for weeks in Manhattan to surrender his digital assets, while two teenagers in Las Vegas were accused of abducting a victim and stealing $4 million in crypto.
Globally, crypto-enabled kidnappings have surged as digital assets become harder to trace in real time. Chainalysis reported that criminals stole more than $3.8 billion in crypto through hacks and scams in 2022, while a smaller but rising fraction involved physical coercion cases like this one.
