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A former Los Angeles police officer was denied bail Friday after prosecutors accused him of leading a fake police raid that targeted a 17-year-old cryptocurrency entrepreneur in his Hollywood Hills apartment.
Eric Halem, 38, and alleged accomplice Gabby Ben, 51, pleaded not guilty to charges including kidnapping and armed robbery after prosecutors said they used LAPD handcuffs, threatened to shoot the victim, and stole $350,000 in digital assets during a December home invasion.
Court documents describe a six-person crew arriving in a Lamborghini and Range Rover at 2 a.m., posing as officers executing a search warrant.
According to court filings tied to the Crypto theft allegation, the suspects drove to the teenager’s Koreatown residence around 2 a.m. on December 28, 2024. Ben reportedly arrived in a rented Lamborghini Urus, while the other men followed in a Range Rover.
Prosecutors say the group gained entry to the apartment using an access code and immediately encountered the victim’s girlfriend. Brownstone said the men restrained her using LAPD-issued handcuffs.
“They claimed they were from the Los Angeles Police Department and were there to execute a search warrant,” Brownstone told the court — one of several statements supporting the Crypto theft allegation.
When the victim later returned home, the suspects allegedly detained him and demanded access to the cryptocurrency stored on his phone and computer.
Brownstone said the group further escalated the encounter, stating that the intruders told the victim “they were going to shoot him in the foot and waterboard him if he refused to surrender the crypto.” Prosecutors added that the suspects turned on the shower in an attempt to reinforce the threat.
The teenager eventually opened a safe holding a thumb drive with approximately $350,000 in crypto, according to the court filings. Surveillance footage later showed the men leaving the apartment 25 minutes after they arrived.
Defense attorney Megan Maitia, representing Halem, questioned the basis of the Crypto theft allegation, emphasizing that her client had not personally threatened the victim.
She pointed to another member of the group, whom police have not yet located. Maitia also challenged the assumption that the teenager’s crypto wealth was legitimate, suggesting that investigators had “not fully established” how a 17-year-old accumulated that amount of digital assets.
Maitia asked the court to reconsider bail, arguing that Halem is a father of two and financially distressed. She said he had “sold a prop plane” — an item prosecutors cited to argue he was a flight risk — and that his home had fallen into liens.
She also stated that Halem faced potential danger in county jail because of his background as a former LAPD officer, reinforcing her position that pretrial release was warranted.
Despite the request, the judge declined to set bail, citing the seriousness of the Crypto theft allegation and the ongoing search for additional suspects.
Brownstone told the court that investigators are still seeking the sixth man linked to the Crypto theft allegation. The prosecution argues that the operation was deliberate, organized, and financially motivated, with the group targeting a teenager because of his successful cryptocurrency business.
Authorities say the suspects did not touch other valuables in the safe and scattered the apartment before leaving, behavior prosecutors believe supports the underlying Crypto theft allegation. The case remains active as new filings and potential accomplices are expected to emerge.
For crypto investors, the Crypto theft allegation highlights how high-value digital assets continue to attract sophisticated criminal activity. For policymakers, it underscores the need for more robust frameworks to address digital-asset crime, especially as crypto holdings become more common among younger entrepreneurs.
As proceedings continue, the Crypto theft allegation remains a focal point in Los Angeles’ ongoing efforts to curb crypto-related crime.
