HARTFORD, Conn. — A Florida man pleaded guilty Thursday in connection with the carjacking and kidnapping of a Connecticut couple, in what authorities called a failed ransom plot that may have been linked to a $240 million cryptocurrency heist.
Michael Rivas, 19, of Miami, was one of six men arrested after a series of events in Danbury on Aug. 25. He pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy charges in federal court in Hartford. Two others are expected to enter similar pleas in the same court on Friday.
The couple were driving in a new Lamborghini SUV when the suspects forced them out of the SUV, assaulted them, put them in a van and bound them, police said. Witnesses immediately alerted police. Four of the men were arrested after abandoning their vehicles including the van and fleeing on foot, while the other two were later taken into custody at a nearby home the group had rented through Airbnb, authorities said. The couple were injured but survived the ordeal…