A French man living in Morocco has been convicted of organizing some of the recent daring kidnappings of crypto figures in France. According to reports, the suspect, Mohammed Hamid Bajou, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.
The news comes amid a growing debate in French society over the massive number of data leaks in the country that are compromising personal security. The Court of Appeal in the Moroccan city of Tangier gave Bajou the harsh sentence on Thursday, May 21, local and French media reported. The 25-year-old man is the alleged mastermind of a gang that committed a series of brazen abductions of wealthy individuals in France, including prominent people from the crypto space.
French crypto kidnappings mastermind sentenced to prison
According to reports, Bajou was facing serious charges, the French crypto information portal Journal du Coin noted in an article on Saturday, quoting a post by the Moroccan news website Tanja7 from Friday. These included establishing a criminal group, kidnapping, unlawful detention and torture for ransom, attempted premeditated murder, illegal possession of firearms, and drug trafficking.
One of Bajou’s victims was David Balland, a co-founder of Ledger, the French company known for its popular hardware cryptocurrency wallets. The crypto entrepreneur was abducted in January 2025 along with his female partner at their home in Central France. The attackers demanded a 10-million-euro ransom, and Balland had a finger cut off before the couple was rescued by the French police. This was not the only such case. Another crypto executive, kidnapped in May 2025, also lost a finger before his release.
The Moroccan court ordered French international to pay 1 million dirhams (nearly $110,000) to each of the individuals known to have been targeted by his gang. Mohamed Bajou was arrested in Tangier in June last year. He was wanted under a Red Notice issued by Interpol on the request of French authorities. At the time, media reports identified him as “Badiss Mohamed Amide Bajjou.”
During a search at his home, Moroccan law enforcement found a whole arsenal of bladed weapons, hidden in the apartment’s ventilation ducts. At the time, the Moroccan prosecutor leading the probe stated that the suspect posed a serious threat, noting that he was evidently planning his next move. Investigators added that seized messages and other analyzed correspondence indicated he was indeed the mastermind of the kidnapping operation.
However, Bajou denied all charges during the subsequent trial. He maintained he left France and settled in Morocco, where he worked on his grandfather’s farm. He insisted that the accusations against him were based on false statements made by a cousin, who was allegedly motivated by a family conflict. Mohamed Bajou also disputed the authorities’ claims that the victims had formally identified him before he was implicated.
