US federal prosecutors have charged three men from Tennessee with robbery, kidnapping, and conspiracy after an alleged violent crime spree targeting cryptocurrency holders across California, a case that adds fresh urgency to growing global concerns about physical attacks on visible crypto wealth.
The defendants, Elijah Armstrong, 21, Nino Chindavanh, 21, and Jayden Rucker, 25, were named in an indictment filed on March 31 and unsealed following their arrests. The Justice Department says the alleged targets were based across San Francisco, San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Los Angeles. All three defendants remain in federal custody. Armstrong and Rucker were scheduled to appear for appointment of counsel on May 12, while Chindavanh faces a status hearing on June 26.
As with all indictments, the charges are allegations only. The defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Fake deliveries, firearms, and $6.5M in forced transfers
According to prosecutors, the men posed as delivery workers to gain access or attempt to gain access, to victims’ homes. Once inside, they allegedly used firearms, duct tape, and zip ties to restrain victims before demanding access to their crypto accounts.
In the most significant incident detailed in the indictment, a victim was allegedly forced at gunpoint to sign into their crypto accounts. A co-conspirator then transferred approximately $6.5 million in digital assets to a wallet controlled by the group, the single largest theft in the alleged spree.
US Attorney Craig Missakian described the alleged scheme plainly: “These individuals, as alleged, terrorized their victims in the hopes of stealing vast sums of cryptocurrency.” FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Matt Cobo added that the bureau would continue working with local law enforcement partners to pursue anyone who targets crypto holders for violent theft.
A global pattern of physical crypto crime
The Tennessee case is part of a broader trend that security researchers and law enforcement agencies have increasingly flagged as a distinct and growing category of crime, commonly referred to as “wrench attacks.” Unlike digital exploits that rely on technical vulnerabilities, wrench attacks use physical force or coercion to compel victims to transfer assets or surrender wallet access on the spot, bypassing the cryptographic security of the accounts themselves.
The pattern is intensifying internationally. French prosecutors recently charged 88 suspects in cases connected to alleged crypto wrench attacks, following a steep rise in incidents in the country: 18 reported cases in 2024, 67 in 2025, and at least 47 so far in 2026, a trajectory that points to a serious and accelerating problem. Cases in France have included home invasions, kidnappings, and attacks on family members of known crypto holders.
The US case echoes the GothFerrari hardware wallet burglary sentenced last week, in which another criminal network also combined social engineering and physical intrusion to steal more than $250 million in crypto, underscoring that these incidents are not isolated aberrations but part of an emerging criminal methodology.
Why visible crypto wealth creates physical risk
What links these cases is a common enabling factor: the identifiability of crypto holders. Whether through public social media, on-chain wallet data, exchange leaks, or community forums, individuals known to hold significant crypto assets have become targets in the physical world in a way that owners of equivalent bank balances are not. Unlike a bank account, where a wire transfer requires institutional verification steps, a crypto transfer at gunpoint is technically irreversible and largely untraceable once executed.
If convicted on all charges, Armstrong, Chindavanh, and Rucker face substantial federal prison sentences tied to the robbery and kidnapping counts. The case is being prosecuted in the Northern District of California.
