- Aussie crypto billionaire Tim Heath fought off kidnappers in Tallinn by biting off an attacker’s finger, foiling a crypto extortion plot.
- Two Azerbaijani suspects were caught via DNA and getaway trails; two others remain at large while Heath sues for €3.2M in security and trauma costs.
- Heath keeps leading Yolo Group despite fresh crypto ransom threats, staying active in the crypto-gaming scene with tighter security.
An Estonian court has heard that Australian billionaire Tim Heath, founder of crypto-gaming giant Yolo Group, fought off an attempted kidnapping last July in Tallinn, Estonia, after a group posing as painters ambushed him inside his apartment building.
The attack left DNA evidence trailing through the Old Town Streets, and the case now starts to unravel.
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Quite the Story
The attackers planned to drag Heath to a remote hideout in the Kakerdaja bog, 65 kilometers outside the city, likely to extort crypto or ransom.
Heath didn’t go quietly. He resisted in the stairwell, biting off part of an assailant’s finger before the group fled without managing to shove him into a waiting van. The suspects left a clear trail: a rented getaway car and an Airbnb hideout that led investigators to arrest two Azerbaijani nationals, now extradited to Estonia. Two accomplices remain on the run.
The picture above from the Eesti Ekspress shows the two Azerbaijani men in question: Allahverdi Allahverdiyev (left), who was apparently kind enough to apologise to Heath, and Ilgar Mamevod, who claims to know nothing about any crime.
Heath has since tightened personal security, pouring millions into protection measures, for which he began a civil case in Estonia asking for over €3.2M (AU$5.74M) in compensation for security cost and trauma, as per a report from Gambling News. Defense lawyers for the accused say the claim is excessive, but the case is moving ahead anyway.
He’s also received anonymous crypto ransom threats in the months following the attempt.
Despite the attack, Heath just went on with life and to this day he runs Yolo Group, remaining a visible figure in crypto and gaming circles, and surely has a hell of a story to tell.
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