On August 4, David X. Sullivan, the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that a federal grand jury in New Haven had indicted three men from St. Louis for conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery. Cedric Louis, 32, John Davis, 34, and Martel Williams, 27, face up to 20 years in prison under the Hobbs Act.
Prosecutors allege that the scheme's organizers recruited this trio to carry out the on-site work: they broke into a home in Connecticut, threatened a person inside, and forced them to transfer stolen cryptocurrency to accounts controlled by the scheme's coordinators.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office stated:
"The investigation revealed that the kidnapping victims were the parents of an individual involved in the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Bitcoin."
Louis and Davis have been in custody since their arrests on June 25 and July 30, respectively, and pleaded not guilty in federal court in Bridgeport. Williams pleaded not guilty on July 17 and was released on bail. Sullivan emphasized that an indictment is not evidence of guilt.
Airsoft Rifles, Rental Cars, and Two Days of Surveillance
Between August 21 and 24, 2024, the three men traveled east to Connecticut, rented cars, and purchased equipment, including airsoft rifles and walkie-talkies. Over the next two days, they surveilled the target and his parents, waiting for a moment when the house would be empty.
That moment never arrived, and the group abandoned the operation due to fears that they had been recorded by home security cameras. The decision was driven by frustration with the plan and losing contact with their accomplices, after which the three men left the state. Shortly afterward, another group from Florida arrived to carry out the same plan, which resulted in the violent carjacking of a Lamborghini Urus and the arrest of six men on August 25, 2024.
Number of Guilty Pleas Among Alleged Organizers Grows
The charges against the three St. Louis men represent a new phase in a case that has been steadily unfolding since early 2025. James Schwab, 22, of Peachtree Corners, Georgia, was charged with kidnapping conspiracy on February 25 of that year, and a superseding indictment returned on October 28 of the same year added Adam Iza, 25, of California, and Saif Faik, 22, of St. Louis to the Danbury kidnapping case.
On June 8, Faik pleaded guilty in federal court in Hartford to an offense related to the attempted robbery and kidnapping in Danbury aimed at obtaining Bitcoin. Investigators identified an accomplice who, in July 2024, got into a dispute with the victims' son at a Miami nightclub and later maintained regular contact with some of the kidnappers.
Federal authorities described the scheme as follows:
"In an attempt to steal some of this Bitcoin, Faik and others planned and coordinated an attempted robbery and, ultimately, kidnapping."
Six other individuals charged in connection with the carjacking and kidnapping have also pleaded guilty.
Violent Cryptocurrency Robberies Increasing Across the United States
Violent schemes of this kind have spread nationwide as criminals bypass encryption entirely and target the individuals holding the keys. Prosecutors have charged three men in a series of robberies targeting cryptocurrency holders in four California cities, where assailants posed as delivery drivers to gain entry into homes before binding their victims with duct tape and zip ties.
Two brothers from Texas pleaded guilty this year to a home invasion robbery in which they forced the transfer of $8 million while holding a Minnesota family at gunpoint for several hours. In this context, security advice for cryptocurrency holders now focuses less on software and more on vigilance, warning against posting personal information on social media that signals wealth, daily habits, and home address.
Separate proceedings in California have also involved Iza, who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to rob in Connecticut and to several other federal crimes. A former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy was sentenced to one year in federal prison after he filed a false warrant application to obtain cell-site location data for a private client, in a case prosecutors linked to Iza.
