The kidnapping took place on Tuesday morning at David Balland, co-founder and former employee of Ledger and his partner, in Méreau in Cher.

The two French citizens were held in different places. The alert was given by Eric Larchevêque, co-founder of the company, who received a video of a mutilated finger from David Balland and a request for "significant ransom in cryptocurrency," AFP reports according to a source close to the file. " Some "ransom was paid during the negotiation" with law enforcement, but "most of the cryptocurrencies were seized and frozen", said Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau, of the national court to fight organized crime, in charge of the investigation.

Ten people were taken into custody on Thursday night, suspected of being involved in the kidnapping and kidnapping with torture of the co-founder of Ledger, a French startup founded in 2014 that has exceeded €1 billion. The police managed to free David Balland on Wednesday, but his partner was still missing. He was then hospitalized for his mutilation. The co-founder was "extremely shocked" at the time of his release by the military, reported General Ghislain Réty, the commander of GIGN, to the channel BFMTV. Two suspects were arrested in Châteauroux, on his release Wednesday, and a third the following night, as he returned to the scene, said a source close to the case.

Finally, the investigators manage to find the companion of David Balland "tied in the trunk in a vehicle" in Étampes (Essonne), in this commune south of Paris. Six more people were then arrested. The tenth suspect is only later arrested, without knowing where or when at this point.