What the record says
David Balland and his partner were abducted from their home in the Cher department early on 21 January 2025. According to the French gendarmerie, they were separated, and another Ledger cofounder received a cryptocurrency ransom demand. Balland was rescued near Châteauroux on 22 January; his partner was recovered from a vehicle at Étampes the following day. Balland required hospital care. The official account states that part of the ransom was paid during police-led negotiations and almost all of those funds were traced, frozen and seized.
Outcomes, kept separate
People
Both rescued alive; Balland suffered serious injury and received hospital care.
Assets / reported demand
Partial ransom paid; almost all of that payment frozen and seized, according to the gendarmerie. Final net loss and restitution were not disclosed in that account.
Investigation / legal status
A judicial investigation opened on 24 January. Reporting on 25 January said seven suspects had been placed under formal investigation and in pretrial detention. These were procedural steps, not convictions.
What remains unsettled
The reviewed accounts do not establish how the home was identified or any causal link to a data leak. This legal snapshot is January 2025, not a claim that proceedings remain unchanged today.
Record history
Initial documented baseline / 初次记录基线2026-10-28 · Editorial import