A YouTuber who was convicted of organizing a kidnapping and holding the victim ransom for $102,000 in Bitcoin is sentenced to serve 50 years in prison.
According to the New York Post, German Abraham Leora Acosta,25, was a part of a kidnapping scheme with five other men and held 33-year-old lawyer Thalia Denisse captive in February 2018. The Mexico-based YouTuber and his accomplices took the victim to his home and demanded $102,000 in Bitcoin in exchange for her release. She was rescued by local authorities two days later and four members involved in the scheme were arrested.
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Leora Acosta was known for his motivational videos on YouTube and described himself as a full-time entrepreneur, writer, and speaker. Last year, he participated in the World Congress of Young Leaders for Peace. A now-deleted tagline on his channel said: “I think the mind is the only thing that limits us.”
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This is his first criminal offense and investigators say he organized the entire kidnapping and his accomplices Jassiel Omar Molina Ceballos, Jesús Adrián Mendoza Pérez, Edgar René Subías Rubalcaba, Jesús Arnulfo Ochoa Martínez and Juan Alfonso Puerta Holguín committed the act.
The group is required to pay a fine of 500,000 pesos($25,000) and will be serving up to 50 years in prison for the kidnapping.