The Paris investigating chamber rejected an appeal for release Monday from a French tax administration employee who prosecutors accuse of selling confidential information about cryptocurrency investors to criminal organizations.
Ghalia C., 32, has been detained since June 30, 2025, facing charges of complicity in violence against a public official and criminal conspiracy. Investigators examining her workstation at the Bobigny tax office uncovered searches specifically targeting cryptocurrency specialists and investors, whose personal data she allegedly sold to criminals for physical attacks and extortion.
Authorities traced her activity through the tax administration’s Mira software, which she exploited to access sensitive financial information. Police found cash deposits and Western Union transfers in her bank accounts, indicating payment for transmitting confidential data to an anonymous client.
Cryptocurrency investors present particularly valuable targets for organized crime seeking to steal private keys through so-called wrench attacks, physical assaults designed to force victims to surrender access codes.
Her search history revealed queries on multiple cryptocurrency specialists alongside other high-profile individuals, including billionaire Vincent Bolloré, health inspectors, prison guards, and a judge.
The investigation began after three armed men assaulted a prison guard from La Santé prison in his Montreuil home in September 2024. Prosecutors allege Ghalia C. provided the attackers with the victim’s precise address, which she obtained through unauthorized tax system searches.
The men received €800 to carry out the assault, which stemmed from a dispute over mobile phones discovered in a prison cell.
Ghalia C. has a prior conviction for supplying narcotics to inmates and maintained connections within the prison system. During Monday’s hearing, she acknowledged “passing on information” but denied knowing her client’s violent intentions.
Her attorney contends she cannot identify the instigator because his identity remains unknown to her.
The court rejected her release after she refused to provide her phone passcode or name her contacts. The attorney general noted that Ghalia C. “used her position in a completely abnormal way to serve a seasoned criminal.”
France has experienced multiple physical attacks targeting cryptocurrency holders, according to Protos. On Monday evening, three masked individuals held a woman captive while searching for a USB device containing her partner’s cryptocurrency access information, local media reported. She freed herself and contacted the police after the attackers fled.
The case raises broader questions about government access to cryptocurrency holder information. South Korea recently proposed freezing crypto accounts of suspected market manipulators without court warrants, drawing criticism from industry observers who warn such powers could expand beyond their stated purpose.
Rafael Cintron, CEO of Wealthy Expat, argues that “increasingly governments and banks are seeing crypto as an enemy, or automatically assuming that everyone who holds crypto is a criminal.”
Protos reports that previous incidents include kidnappings involving mutilation and assaults in public spaces. Ghalia C. faces additional charges in Nancy related to other instances of intimidation against public officials, according to Journal du Coin, which describes the existence of a structured network exploiting vulnerabilities within the tax administration.
Authorities are investigating whether other tax officials have been compromised by the same criminal network to compile lists of potential cryptocurrency investor targets.
