An American investor, identified as the ex-boyfriend of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, has just been the victim of a robbery at his home. The theft is estimated to be worth $11 million in cryptocurrency.
An $11 million crypto heist
For some time now, it has no longer been enough to protect your cryptocurrencies with an effective wallet to guard against attacks and other on-chain thefts. Criminals have made a radical and frightening change in strategy, which is now taking place in the real world.
Proof of this can be seen in the worrying increase in attacks and kidnappings targeting identified players in the crypto ecosystem, which have risen sharply since the beginning of the year. The tipping point in this situation was reached at the end of January with the case of the co-founder of Ledger and his wife, who were kidnapped and tortured to extract $10 million from them.
Although France ranks high among the most targeted territories, other countries are also affected. In fact, a new case of this type has just made headlines in the American press, particularly because of the identity of the victim.
The incident was reported in the New York Post, involving the “ex-boyfriend of the boss of ChatGPT,” Sam Altman, who lives in San Francisco. According to preliminary findings from the ongoing investigation, the incident was a robbery at his home, with the aim of stealing $11 million in cryptocurrency.
A targeted attack by an organized criminal group
According to the information available, the robber arrived at the victim’s home posing as a UPS delivery driver. In order not to arouse suspicion, he gave the first name of the crypto investor, who naturally opened the door to him.
Robber posing as a delivery driver steals $11,000,000 in crypto after pulling a gun and duct-taping the victim in San Francisco pic.twitter.com/Jny8HfVvGC
— BAY AREA STATE OF MIND (@YayAreaNews) November 24, 2025
The thief then asks him to sign for the package so he can enter the house to find a pen. Once inside, he pulls out a gun, points it at the victim, ties him up with duct tape, and beats him to get access to his crypto wallet.
According to the available evidence, the thief made off with $11 million in Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as the resident’s smartphone and laptop, in what already appears to be “a targeted attack by an organized criminal group.”
It is worth noting that a similar case has just taken place in the Gard region, with the kidnapping of the CEO of the Bastide Médical company in order to steal a dozen luxury watches, with an estimated haul of €1 million. This shows that criminals are not only targeting cryptocurrencies.
