Bitcoin-linked Connecticut kidnapping organizer pleads guilty

Saif Faiq pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Hartford to a conspiracy charge for his role in a 2024 bitcoin-linked kidnapping and a daytime carjacking in Danbury, Connecticut. He faces up to 20 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 28.

The U.S. Department of Justice says Faiq and his brother, Adam Iza, organized an extortion plot targeting the parents of a crypto millionaire. Prosecutors allege the brothers recruited six men from Florida, arranged their travel to Connecticut, conducted surveillance on the victims and helped plan a home invasion that ended in a carjacking.

Court records show the six recruited men forced a Lamborghini Urus to stop in daylight by rear-ending it, surrounded the vehicle with a van, pulled the occupants out, beat them with a baseball bat and briefly detained them. The victims were identified as Sushil and Radhika Chetal, the parents of Veer Chetal.

Prosecutors say the plot was linked to a separate fraud in which Veer Chetal and two others used social engineering to steal roughly 4,100 bitcoins. Veer Chetal pleaded guilty last November to charges tied to that theft and is awaiting sentencing. Officials say one of Faiq's alleged co-conspirators met Veer Chetal while he was showing off wealth at a Miami nightclub, which helped set the extortion plan in motion.

Both Saif Faiq and his brother Adam Iza have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery; Iza entered his plea on June 1. Faiq has been detained since his arrest on Nov. 12, 2025. The six men involved in the carjacking have admitted their roles and face separate penalties.

The Justice Department described the case as an organized effort that moved people across state lines to carry out violent crimes tied to the proceeds of a large cryptocurrency theft. At sentencing on Aug. 28, a federal judge will determine Faiq's prison term, up to the statutory maximum of 20 years.