(Montreal) Four people were kidnapped this Friday morning from a building in the Old Port. According to information obtained by The Pressone of the people kidnapped would be Kevin Mirshahi, a cryptocurrency enthusiast who was the target of threats following a fraudulent affair.
Posted at 4:19 p.m.
Updated at 6:07 p.m.
The Montreal City Police Service (SPVM) confirms that a quadruple kidnapping took place around 4 a.m. this morning in the east of the Ville-Marie borough. The police were dispatched to the scene following a 911 call mentioning a “conflict”.
According to information obtained by The Press, Kevin Mirshahi, an influencer known in the world of cryptocurrency, had left his home the day before, in the evening. When he returned around 4 a.m., he returned to his apartment located at 859 rue de la Commune est, in the company of three other people. It would be two women and a man.
Still according to our information, the four individuals were kidnapped in the underground parking lot of the building.
Witnesses then saw one or more vehicles leaving the scene at full speed. One or one of the suspect vehicles was found burned in Laval.
For its part, the Police Department of the City of Laval (SPL) confirms that a burned vehicle was found in Laval-sur-le-Lac to the west of the city, at the corner of des plaines and des érables streets. .
An SPVM command post has been established around the Old Montreal building and investigators from the major crimes section are currently on site to learn more about the circumstances of this kidnapping.
An alleged victim known to the justice system
In July 2021, Kevin Mirshahi was indicted by the Administrative Tribunal for Financial Markets (TMF) in a cryptocurrency case.
The influencer was then the head of a private group called Crypto Paradise. This group had helped promote on social networks a cryptocurrency, “MRS”, which a young Laval entrepreneur in his twenties, Antoine Marsan, had launched in February of the same year.
At that time, Kevin Mirshahi told The Press having “brought other influencers” with him in this adventure in order to “create a sort of hype “.
The promotional campaign would then have praised the MRS by claiming that its value would experience meteoric growth. Nearly 2,000 investors, some of whom were minors, then bet massively in this new cryptocurrency.
The idyll was only short-lived when, in mid-April 2021, a major investor of unknown identity sold 10% of the currencies in a single night, thus allowing him to pocket a large profit, but making suddenly drop the value of the MRS.
Immediate cold shower for the thousands of investors who suddenly and collectively lost nearly 2 million dollars.
But the problems don’t stop there. Neither the financing project nor the promotional campaign had been approved by the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) as required by the regulatory framework.
An investigation was then undertaken by the AMF, which subsequently obtained a blocking order from the TMF, prohibiting Mirshahi and Marsan from carrying out any activity as a broker or investment advisor, and preventing any transaction in securities. . This order was then extended by the court and will end on July 4.
A residence “under increased surveillance”
After the fiasco surrounding this cryptocurrency, Antoine Marsan and Kevin Mirshahi received hundreds of death threats from angry investors.
Kevin Mirshahi then explained to The Pressthat his residence had been placed under “increased surveillance” by the police following the threats.
