Texas Brothers Plead Guilty to $8M Armed Crypto Kidnapping

In brief Two Texas brothers pleaded guilty Thursday to robbing a Minnesota family of more than $8 million in cryptocurrency during a violent 2025 home invasion. Isiah and Raymond Garcia held the family at gunpoint for more than eight hours and forced the father to transfer the funds, according to the Justice Department. Each faces up to 20 years in prison, in one of the larger U.S. examples of a crypto "wrench attack." Two Texas brothers have pleaded guilty to robbing a Minnesota family of more than $8 million in cryptocurrency, after holding them at gunpoint in their own home for hours.Isiah Angelo Garcia, 25, and Raymond Christian Garcia, 24, both of Waller, Texas, each pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of interference with commerce by robbery, according to a statement released by the Justice Department. They entered the pleas before U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery in Minneapolis.The brothers traveled from Texas to Minnesota specifically to carry out the scheme, prosecutors said. On the morning of September 19, 2025, they kidnapped a man and his family at gunpoint inside their home in Grant, a small city outside Minneapolis, demanded access to his cryptocurrency accounts, zip-tied the family, and held them for more than eight hours.At one point, Isiah Garcia forced the man to travel to the family's cabin in northern Minnesota to retrieve additional crypto storage devices and move the funds, according to court documents. In all, the brothers forced him to transfer more than $8 million.The family's son managed to call 911, and the brothers fled. Investigators used items they left behind at the home to identify them, then tracked them to the Houston area, where they were arrested. Both admitted using firearms to threaten the family."No one should ever feel unsafe in their own home," FBI Minneapolis Special Agent in Charge Christopher Dotson said, pledging that such "violence and greed" would be aggressively investigated. U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen said the pleas reflected a commitment to holding the brothers "accountable for the choices they made."Each faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison, and the two agreed to pay more than $8 million in restitution. Sentencing dates have not been set.The brothers were first charged in September, days after an attack that rattled the Grant community and pushed a local high school to cancel a homecoming football game while police hunted the suspects.Crypto “wrench attacks” on the riseThe case is among a fast-growing wave of so-called "wrench attacks," in which crypto holders are coerced into handing over their assets using physical force or the threat of violence. Such attacks have multiplied worldwide.Last year, Remy St. Felix received a 47-year prison sentence following his conviction by a federal jury in North Carolina for leading a violent crypto home-invasion ring—the longest sentence in any U.S. cryptocurrency case. In May, three Tennessee men were indicted over a "brazen" wrench-attack spree in California that allegedly netted $6.5 million at gunpoint.France has become a particular hotspot, with prosecutors charging 88 people, including minors, across a dozen investigations into kidnappings whose victims included Ledger co-founder David Balland, who was abducted and mutilated before police freed him. Security experts say reported cases are likely an undercount, and have urged holders to keep their wealth out of public view.Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.