Three Charged in Plot to Seize Stolen Bitcoin in Connecticut

A federal grand jury in New Haven returned a superseding indictment charging Sedric Louis, 32; John Davis, 34; and Martel Williams, 27, with conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery under the Hobbs Act. The indictment alleges they were hired to force a Connecticut resident to move bitcoin tied to a theft worth hundreds of millions into accounts controlled by the scheme’s organizers.

The indictment says that between Aug. 21 and Aug. 24, 2024, the three men traveled from St. Louis to Connecticut, rented vehicles and assembled equipment including air rifles and walkie-talkies. Over the next two days they conducted surveillance of a house and its occupants, waiting for an opportunity to enter. The group abandoned the attempt after they believed home security cameras had recorded them and after losing contact with co-conspirators.

A different group from Florida then arrived and carried out a related operation that authorities say resulted in a violent carjacking and the arrest of six men on Aug. 25, 2024.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said, “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 been held in custody since their arrests on June 25; both pleaded not guilty on July 30 in federal court in Bridgeport. Williams pleaded not guilty on July 17 and was released on bond. U.S. Attorney David X. Sullivan emphasized that an indictment is not evidence of guilt.

The case has expanded over the past year. James Schwab, 22, of Peachtree Corners, Georgia, was charged Feb. 25, 2025, with conspiracy to commit kidnapping. A superseding indictment in October added Adam Iza, 25, of California, and Saif Faiq, 22, of St. Louis. Faiq pleaded guilty on June 8 in Hartford federal court to an offense tied to the attempted bitcoin robbery and a related kidnapping in Danbury. Federal filings identify a co-conspirator who had an altercation with the victims’ son at a Miami nightclub in July 2024 and then remained in contact with certain kidnappers as the plot developed.

Six other people charged in connection with the carjacking and kidnapping have pleaded guilty. Proceedings in California include charges that Iza has pleaded guilty to the Connecticut robbery conspiracy and to other federal offenses. A former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy received a one-year federal sentence after submitting a false search-warrant application to obtain a man’s cellphone location for a private client; prosecutors tied that matter to the broader scheme.

Prosecutors have cited other cases involving violent crimes against cryptocurrency holders, including attacks in which assailants posed as delivery workers to enter homes and restrained victims, and a case in which two Texas brothers admitted to holding a family at gunpoint and forcing an $8 million transfer. Law enforcement advises holders of large digital-asset balances to avoid public exposure of personal details that could make them targets.