Ex-LAPD Officer Found Guilty of $350K ‘Wrench Attack’ Bitcoin Robbery
In brief
- A former LAPD officer has been found guilty of kidnapping and robbery after a home invasion in which he held a teenage crypto owner at gunpoint.
- Eric Halem and his alleged associates stole a hard drive containing $350.000 worth of Bitcoin from the victim.
- The crime is the latest in a series of “$5 wrench attacks” that have soared by 75% year-on-year, according to a recent study.
A former LAPD officer has been convicted over a “$5 wrench attack” after stealing $350,000 in cryptocurrency from a 17-year-old during a home invasion in 2024. A Los Angeles Superior Court jury found Eric Halem, 38, guilty of kidnapping and robbery, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. Halem was charged in December 2024 with kidnapping for ransom, first-degree residential robbery, and home invasion robbery, after he and his alleged accomplices entered an apartment in Koreatown, handcuffing two victims and transferring money from their cryptocurrency account. According to a press release published by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, the charges carry a life sentence in state prison.
Per the LA Times, Halem and his alleged accomplices posed as police in order to gain entry to the victim’s high-rise apartment, before restraining him and his girlfriend and threatening to shoot him if he refused to give up a hard drive containing his Bitcoin keys. The victim, who testified under his first name, Daniel, admitted on the stand to having obtained his crypto holdings through fraud. Halem’s attorney, Megan Maitia, described her client and his alleged associates as “knuckleheads,” questioning why they had, per trial testimony, driven to the scene of the crime in a green Range Rover and an orange Lamborghini Urus owned by his car rental company and equipped with GPS trackers. In text messages shared after the robbery, Halem said he was monitoring police traffic and that “Someone I know fed wise called me.” Halem’s co-defendants have yet to stand trial and maintain their innocence.
Crypto “wrench attacks” The case is the latest example of a “$5 wrench attack,” in which victims are coerced into giving up access to their crypto through physical violence and threats. According to a February 2026 study by blockchain security firm CertiK, physical attacks on crypto holders soared by 75% in 2025, with confirmed losses topping $40.9 million. Cases include the January 2025 kidnapping of Ledger co-founder David Balland and his wife in France, which has emerged as the epicenter of violent attacks on crypto holders. Balland’s ordeal saw his attackers sever one of his fingers and demand a €10 million ransom in crypto. Other recent incidents have seen crypto holders in the UK, Israel, and Canada targeted by attackers. Security professionals recommend that crypto holders adopt a variety of tactics to protect themselves against coercion, including multisig wallets, cryptographic techniques, decoy wallets, and privacy coins.
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