Stolen Bitcoin at Center of Kidnapping Plot, 3 Face 20 Years

Grand Jury Returns Second Superseding Indictment in New Haven

U.S. Attorney David X. Sullivan for the District of Connecticut announced Aug. 4 that a grand jury in New Haven had charged three St. Louis men with conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery. Sedric Louis, 32, John Davis, 34, and Martel Williams, 27, each face up to 20 years in prison under the Hobbs Act charge.

Prosecutors allege that the men who organized the scheme brought in the trio to do the work on the ground, forcing their way into a Connecticut home, threatening the person inside, and compelling him to move the stolen cryptocurrency into accounts controlled by the scheme’s coordinators.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office stated:

“The investigation revealed that the kidnapping victims are the parents of an individual who participated in the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin.”

Louis and Davis have remained in custody since their arrests on June 25 and pleaded not guilty in Bridgeport federal court on July 30. Williams entered the same plea there on July 17 and was released on bond. Sullivan stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt.

Air Rifles, Rental Cars, and Two Days of Surveillance

Between Aug. 21 and Aug. 24, 2024, the three traveled east to Connecticut, picked up rental vehicles, and gathered supplies that included air rifles and walkie talkies. For the next two days they watched the target and his parents, waiting for the moment the house would be open to them.

That opening never arrived, and the group abandoned the operation out of fear that home security cameras had recorded them. Frustration with the plan and a loss of contact with their co-conspirators drove the decision, and the three men left the state. Another crew from Florida arrived shortly afterward to carry out the same plan, which ended in a violent carjacking of a Lamborghini Urus and the arrest of six men on Aug. 25, 2024.

Guilty Pleas Mount Among the Alleged Organizers

The charges against the three St. Louis men are the latest layer in a case that has grown steadily since early 2025. James Schwab, 22, of Peachtree Corners, Georgia, was charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping on Feb. 25 of that year, and a superseding indictment returned the following Oct. 28 added Adam Iza, 25, of California, and Saif Faiq, 22, of St. Louis, to the Danbury kidnapping case.

Faiq pleaded guilty on June 8 in Hartford federal court to an offense tied to the attempted bitcoin robbery and the Danbury kidnapping. Investigators identified a co-conspirator who argued with the victims’ son at a Miami nightclub in July 2024 and afterward stayed in regular contact with certain kidnappers.

Federal authorities described the arrangement:

“In an attempt to steal some of that Bitcoin, Faiq and others planned and coordinated the attempted robbery and ultimately the kidnapping.”

Six other individuals charged in connection with the carjacking and kidnapping have all pleaded guilty.

Violent Crypto Robberies Multiply Across the United States

Violent schemes of this kind have spread nationwide as criminals skip the encryption entirely and go after the people who hold the keys. Prosecutors charged three men over a robbery spree targeting cryptocurrency owners across four California cities, where the attackers posed as delivery workers to get through the door, then restrained their victims with duct tape and zip ties.

Two Texas brothers admitted this year to an armed robbery that forced an $8 million transfer after holding a Minnesota family at gunpoint for hours. Against that backdrop, security guidance for holders now dwells less on software than on silence, warning against posting personal details on social media that advertise wealth, daily habits, and address.

Separate proceedings in California have drawn in Iza as well, who pleaded guilty to the Connecticut robbery conspiracy and to multiple other federal crimes. A former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy drew a one-year federal prison sentence after he submitted a false search warrant application to obtain a man’s cellphone location for a private client, in a case prosecutors tied to Iza.