Three Tennessee men posing as delivery drivers allegedly forced a California crypto millionaire to open his cryptocurrency account at gunpoint and then transferred $6.5 million to one of their own accounts, prosecutors said this week.
The three men have been charged in federal court with multiple counts of robbery and kidnapping. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California said they had been involved in a wave of violent robberies in the Bay Area and Los Angeles targeting multiple victims. Elijah Armstrong, 21, Nino Chindavanh, 21, and Jayden Rucker, 25, face life in prison if convicted.
“These individuals, as alleged, terrorized their victims in hopes of stealing large sums of cryptocurrency,” the US attorney said. Craig H. Missakian said in a statement Monday. “The plan was not only sophisticated, but also brazen, violent and dangerous.”
The three men allegedly conspired to kidnap and rob people of their cryptocurrency in San Francisco, San Jose, Sunnyvale and Los Angeles, the office said. They allegedly used zip ties and duct tape to restrain at least one victim and force them to log into their crypto account. After gaining access, the defendants allegedly transferred the money from the victim's account to one of the defendant's cryptocurrencies, prosecutors said.
Armstrong, Chindavanh and Rucker were arrested in December and remain in federal custody. They face charges of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, attempted Hobbs Act robbery and attempted kidnapping. The Hobbs Act prohibits theft that interferes with interstate or foreign commerce.
