A 27-year-old St. Louis man has pleaded guilty to helping plan an attempted bitcoin robbery targeting a Connecticut family, according to Bitcoin Magazine. Martel Williams admitted in federal court in Hartford to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, an offense commonly known as Hobbs Act robbery. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
The case arose from a failed operation in August 2024 that prosecutors say was intended to force a Connecticut man to transfer cryptocurrency into accounts controlled by the conspirators. Williams remains free while awaiting sentencing, and a sentencing date has not been set.
An attempted forced transfer
Prosecutors said the group targeted a man who had been involved in a cryptocurrency theft worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The alleged plotters recruited Williams and two other men from St. Louis and expected them to enter the target’s home, threaten him and demand access to his bitcoin.
Williams and the two associates traveled to Connecticut between August 21 and August 24, 2024. They rented vehicles and assembled equipment that included air rifles, walkie-talkies and a laptop computer. For two days, they watched the target and his parents while waiting for an opportunity to enter the property.
The plan was abandoned before the group reached the house. The men became concerned that home security cameras had recorded them and were frustrated by the operation and limited communication with the people coordinating it. They then left Connecticut without completing the attempted robbery.
The federal charge concerns the alleged attempt to take the cryptocurrency through robbery. It does not resolve or determine the facts of the earlier theft that prosecutors say helped make the family a target.
A second crew and the Danbury arrests
The scheme did not end when the first group departed. A second group of six men traveled from Florida to Connecticut to attempt the operation again, according to the case account.
On August 25, 2024, Danbury police arrested the six men after a violent carjacking. The men allegedly beat and kidnapped two people inside the vehicle. Those victims were the parents of the original target.
Local reports have linked the intended target to a bitcoin theft estimated at between $230 million and $245 million, although the reported amounts differ. The source material does not identify the exact value established in the federal case involving Williams.
Williams was arrested by federal agents on July 17, 2026. The FBI New Haven Violent Crimes Task Force, the FBI offices in Los Angeles and St. Louis, and the Danbury Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karen L. Peck and Stephanie T. Levick are prosecuting it. Other defendants in the Danbury case have also pleaded guilty, according to local reporting.
Wider crypto-security backdrop
The case illustrates a distinctive risk associated with digital assets: once a person is forced to surrender control of a wallet or transfer funds, the transaction can be difficult to reverse. A bitcoin wallet is controlled through private credentials, and a criminal group seeking physical access may try to compel a victim to move coins rather than steal cash or hardware directly.
The source material also describes another recent incident involving cryptocurrency allegedly obtained through fraud. Earlier this month, thieves emptied three Ledger addresses holding about 60 bitcoin—reported at roughly $4.8 million—after the assets had been taken in a fake-review task scam. Chainalysis said the transfers went into one wallet reported as stolen.
The broader Ledger incident was described as potentially involving about $86 million in losses after a criminal group allegedly placed seed-phrase-reading devices in products sold through Malaysian reseller CryptoBilis. Ledger said it was working with law enforcement and that no other vendors had been targeted. The source also refers to a July attack on Coldcard that caused losses close to $120 million through a firmware bug.
Moneyiar market picture
Moneyiar data recorded at 22:39 on October 25, 2026, showed Bitcoin at $80,430.506808014. The cryptocurrency was down 0.08% over 24 hours and 1.32% over seven days.
RedStone was priced at $0.1452603192 at the same time. It had declined 2.72% over 24 hours but gained 6.36% over the previous seven days. These market movements provide current price context but do not change the facts or legal status of the criminal case.
