A former Los Angeles police officer has been convicted of kidnapping and robbery for his involvement in a violent extortion case targeting cryptocurrency holders

A former police officer in Los Angeles, Eric Halem, was found guilty by a jury of kidnapping and robbery for his involvement in a violent extortion case targeting cryptocurrency holders.

The incident occurred in 2024 in an apartment in Koreatown, Los Angeles, where Eric Halem and his accomplices impersonated law enforcement officers, entered the premises, and held a 17-year-old cryptocurrency holder at gunpoint, seizing a hard drive containing the private keys to approximately $350,000 worth of Bitcoin. The related charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.