[REAL] Ledger co-founder David Balland kidnapped

[NotATether]

Allegedly there were some reports of Ledger co-founder Eric Larchevêque being kidnapped in France and held for BTC ransom a couple hours ago, but they turned out to be baloney.

But imagine if this sort of scenario were to happen. Considering that he most likely has his money in a lot of Ledger devices already, how would heads of hardware wallet companies protect themselves from this?

UPDATE: It's real guys. But they kidnapped David Balland, another cofounder, not Eric. Fortunately, he was rescued by police. The media were not allowed to report the story for 48 hours.

https://cryptobriefing.com/ledger-co-founder-david-balland-kidnapped/

[Oshosondy]

He is well known person to the public which makes him not to have privacy that he supposed not to use to joke as he is into crypto. But because he is well known the best is to have body guard and other security in place. He has to protect himself physically. That is the only way he can prevent something like that physical threat from happening because if it happens, most probably that the people that attacked him will make sure they collect something from him or his family.

[ABCbits]

Allegedly there were some reports of Ledger co-founder Eric Larchevêque being kidnapped in France and held for BTC ransom a couple hours ago, but they turned out to be baloney.

I read few news about it, but it seems to be your usual baseless rumor / speculation on internet. I guess some reporters just trying to increase count of news/total words they write, since it's barely newsworthy.

But imagine if this sort of scenario were to happen. Considering that he most likely has his money in a lot of Ledger devices already, how would heads of hardware wallet companies protect themselves from this?

He could just hire service from security company to prevent such scenario.

[dkbit98]

It's scary to hear this, and it's not the first time we hear about crypto kidnapping 
According to official French Authorities we was apparently freed after being kidnapped, injured and held for crypto ransom.
I saw the news about Balland kidnapping early but they first said it was fake news so I initially didn't pay much attention.
https://decrypt.co/302430/ledger-co-founder-kidnapped-crypto-ransom

[Z-tight]

People involved in crypto are being kidnapped rather frequently these days, i have read a couple of stories in the last few months about it, and all i can say is that it is goddamn scary. I can only imagine the horror of being the victim in a $5 wrench attack. The rich can even be able to protect themselves by hiring security, but the common person simply has to be completely private to prevent this.

[Forsyth Jones]

The kidnappers then demanded a large crypto ransom and reportedly sent a finger as part of their demands. Authorities have confirmed it belongs to Balland.

It's horrible to know this, there's no point in having cutting-edge encryption to protect our wallet, but this is not proof against physical attacks, threats and torture. Since he is a well-known person, armed security with bodyguards is the best option from now on.

Avoid talking about how many bitcoins you have. Whenever the subject of crypto comes up, change the subject. Do this for your own safety...

Not exposing too much also avoids major headaches.

[Pmalek]

This is the danger of being a publicly known figure who holds a high position in a company involved with Bitcoin and Crypto. Criminals are likely to track you due to it being harder to recover certain cryptocurrencies. It's difficult to find a balance in this industry. If your team and staff members are unknown, people won't trust you because they don't know the faces behind the company. But if the public knows too much about you, you become a target and this is one of the things that can happen.

[Z-tight]

But if the public knows too much about you, you become a target and this is one of the things that can happen.

That is very true, sadly it is a trade off that we have to live with in the industry. What the very popular figures can do is to try as much as possible to pay for security, i know that not everyone likes to move around with armed security, but they simply have to do that for their own good. They should also try to be discreet about most of their itinerary when possible

[SFR10]

UPDATE: It's real guys. But they kidnapped David Balland, another cofounder, not Eric. Fortunately, he was rescued by police.

Bloomberg ^{[archived version]} has released a few more details about the incident in question, and by connecting the dots from @dkbit98's provided link, it's safe to say that the other co-founder who was approached by the kidnappers for the ransom demand was probably Eric ^{[their CEO, Pascal Gauthier personally thanked him for his bravery]}.

Another note ^{[from the same source]}:
- Despite paying part of the ransom, they managed to get almost everything back by tracking and freezing it, so it appears that some crypto-related platforms collaborated with the involved agencies.

[Lucius]

~snip~
Another note ^{[from the same source]}:
- Despite paying part of the ransom, they managed to get almost everything back by tracking and freezing it, so it appears that some crypto-related platforms collaborated with the involved agencies.

Have they perhaps announced in which cryptocurrency the ransom was paid? If most of the coins were returned, then it was either some stablecoin or BTC, and by all accounts the kidnappers weren't exactly very intelligent when choosing how the ransom would be paid.

Maybe karma has somehow gotten its hands on this, because let's remember how their CEO Pascal repeatedly downplayed the leak of hundreds of thousands of their clients' data as something harmless. Let those at the top feel a little bit of what it's like to be a target.

[Z-tight]

Another note ^{[from the same source]}:
- Despite paying part of the ransom, they managed to get almost everything back by tracking and freezing it, so it appears that some crypto-related platforms collaborated with the involved agencies.

The scammers must be dumb for sending stolen funds into kyc services, but it is cool they did so the victims get nearly all of their money back. The police currently have 10 people in custody and questioning them on the matter, i hope more details will be provided later, though i doubt it. By the way, ledger also confirmed that David Balland no longer works for the company:

Balland has not worked at Ledger since 2021 and has no current role there, the company said.

[NotATether]

These motherfuckers man....



They need to be locked up for life.

[NeuroticFish]

- Despite paying part of the ransom, they managed to get almost everything back by tracking and freezing it, so it appears that some crypto-related platforms collaborated with the involved agencies.

Have they perhaps announced in which cryptocurrency the ransom was paid? If most of the coins were returned, then it was either some stablecoin or BTC, and by all accounts the kidnappers weren't exactly very intelligent when choosing how the ransom would be paid.

I've read somewhere that it was Tether.

They need to be locked up for life.

I've read, but I think hope it's not for real (since a lot of made up crap is there on social media) that several fingers were also sent when they were asking for the ransom.
So yes, at very least 2 lives + 100 years.

[dkbit98]

I've read somewhere that it was Tether.

I heard the same thing, but I don'k know if this was confirmed as true, but apparently Balland accepted for ransom amount to be paid in USDT tether, than he was released from kidnappers.
As soon as that happened authorities and him alerted Tether company and they froze kidnappers coins, making those coins unusable.
According to one article amount for ransom was around $10 million, and we know for sure that Balland lost his finger
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/01/24/david-balland-crypto-kidnapping-rescue-finger/

 

[Pmalek]

They should also try to be discreet about most of their itinerary when possible.

It's not that difficult to find out where a public figure lives. If you know that this guy works at Ledger's HQ, all you have to do is wait to see where he will go at the end of the day when his shift ends. If it's a family man, he is returning home to his wife and children. You follow him discreetly and now you know where he lives.

The scammers must be dumb for sending stolen funds into kyc services, but it is cool they did so the victims get nearly all of their money back.

Centralized stablecoin issuers like Tether can freeze USDT in any address regardless if it's an address from a non-custodial wallet or a centralized exchange. The company was probably in contact with people from Tether as soon as the thieves requested the ransom to be paid in USDT. As soon as the victims were freed, Ledger told Tether which address/addresses to freeze. 

[Z-tight]

Centralized stablecoin issuers like Tether can freeze USDT in any address regardless if it's an address from a non-custodial wallet or a centralized exchange. The company was probably in contact with people from Tether as soon as the thieves requested the ransom to be paid in USDT. As soon as the victims were freed, Ledger told Tether which address/addresses to freeze. 

Yeah i know that, as of the time i made that post i didn't know the currency the scammers used to receive the ransom. I guess the scammers did not know that, because i only learnt it from this forum that Tether can freeze usdt even if you have it in your own wallet, there are so many people who do not know that. If the scammers had probably known, they would have received the ransom in BTC but good thing they made that 'mistake'.

[Coin-Keeper]

Isn't this thread the very reason that we all use Psuedo names and with few exceptions would we make ourselves known personally to anyone here.  Sure we are forum bud's but there would be no reason to give a true name with the obvious fact that the advanced members here all likely have Crypto!

About the only thing to protect at least somewhat is using hidden wallets with your hardware wallet.  You have to leave enough in a dummy wallet to be believable but after that you could have unlimited hidden wallets and nobody would know how many.  If you open two hidden wallets you will still get the $5 wrench because they will think there are 3+ hidden wallets.  My .02

To reserve my options I use a destruct PIN code option on all my Trezors just in case I want to go that route in a specific instance.  Wiping the Trezor is almost for sure going to introduce you to the $5 wrench.  Its coming anyway so screw them!!

[satscraper]

 how would heads of hardware wallet companies protect themselves from this?

Really awful scenario which is exacerbated by the fact that kidnappers may make an attempt on  not only their life but the lives of their loves ones.

 Probably those heads should be surrounded by professional security team  ^{bodyguards included but not limited to} responsible for planning all moments in their life,  taking care about safety of buildings where they work and have residence,
 surveillance, means and routes for  travelling, etc. ^{Security professionals know this better than anybody on this forum.} 

[SFR10]

About the only thing to protect at least somewhat is using hidden wallets with your hardware wallet.  You have to leave enough in a dummy wallet to be believable but after that you could have unlimited hidden wallets and nobody would know how many.

Although the little effort dummy wallets take makes them an easy and popular solution against somewhat similar cases, it would've still not worked for this specific case since they approached another one of Ledger's co-founders for the ransom demand and the fact that he used to be part of a company that currently has over a €1.3 billion in value, it made everything a lot more trickier.

[Pmalek]

Isn't this thread the very reason that we all use Psuedo names and with few exceptions would we make ourselves known personally to anyone here.

It's not the same thing. We are anonymous people on the internet who post on a Bitcoin forum. There are few reasons why you would need to know my name and I yours. But a company like Ledger (or any other popular brand) can't be publicly associated with anonymous individuals. It would have an effect on their success. Imagine a scenario where someone was conducting an interview with the Ledger CEO and a co-founder and you saw two people in a dark room wearing hoodies and masks calling themselves Coin-Keeper and Pmalek because they don't want anyone knowing who they are. It doesn't appeal to the masses and doesn't inspire trust. Although, saying 'Ledger' and 'trust' in one sentence is becoming controversial.