Missouri Man Saif Faiq Sentenced to 48 Months in Federal Prison for Role in Danbury Bitcoin Robbery and Kidnapping Scheme in Connecticut
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut announced that Saif Faiq, 23, of St. Louis, Missouri, was sentenced on October 28 in Hartford by U.S. District Judge Sarala V. Nagala to 48 months of imprisonment and two years of supervised release for his involvement in an attempted robbery of Bitcoin and a kidnapping in Danbury, Connecticut, in August 2024. U.S. Attorney David X. Sullivan announced the sentence.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on August 25, 2024, Danbury Police arrested six Florida men who were involved in a violent carjacking of a Lamborghini Urus and the kidnapping of two occupants of the vehicle on that date. The investigation revealed that the kidnapping victims are the parents of an individual who participated in the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin. In an attempt to steal some of that Bitcoin, Faiq and others planned and coordinated the attempted robbery and ultimately the kidnapping.
Faiq recruited participants for the crime, traveled to Connecticut for the planned home invasion and kidnapping, coordinated with his brother Adam Iza, and helped conduct surveillance on the victims. Iza communicated via cellphone and encrypted messaging applications with certain of the kidnappers, directed them as to the logistics of the scheme, and also provided funding. Faiq's alleged co-conspirator, who had an altercation with the victims' son in a Miami nightclub in July 2024, was in regular communication with certain of the kidnappers in the days before the crime, provided funding for it, and helped arrange the participants' transportation and lodging.
Faiq has been detained since his arrest on November 12, 2025. On June 8, 2026, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, known as Hobbs Act robbery. Iza pleaded guilty to the same offense and was sentenced on September 9, 2026, to 15 years of imprisonment.
The matter is being investigated by the FBI New Haven Violent Crimes Task Force, FBI Los Angeles, FBI St. Louis, and the Danbury Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karen L. Peck and Stephanie T. Levick.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于 Hartford 的 Abraham A. Ribicoff 联邦大楼与美国法院全景，本案被告在此判刑。照片：ajay_suresh 摄，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The Abraham A. Ribicoff Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Hartford, where the defendant was sentenced. Photo: ajay_suresh, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
