Crypto Influencer Found Dead In Montreal Park

A 32-year-old woman faces charges for the murder of Kevin Mirshahi, whose body was found in a Montreal park after his abduction.

According to local sources, the body of cryptocurrency influencer Kevin Mirshahi, who was kidnapped from a condo in June, was discovered in a Montreal park.

Local police told Montreal news outlet The Gazette that on October 30, a bystander at the Île-de-la-Visitation park found Mirshahi’s decaying bones.

The body’s identify as Mirshahi was verified via an autopsy, according to The Gazette’s report from November 13.

According to The Gazette at the time, the 25-year-old was last seen on June 21 after being kidnapped from a Montreal condo complex together with three other people. The other three abductees were able to get away.

The episode contributes to a worrying pattern of killings and kidnappings of cryptocurrency executives and influencers, which are frequently carried out with the intention of stealing or recovering substantial quantities of money.

According to reports, Dean Skurka, the CEO of WonderFi, a Canadian company, was kidnapped last week and had to pay a $1 million ransom to be freed.

The probe into Mirshahi is still in progress. However, The Gazette reported that in August, a 32-year-old woman named Joanie Lepage was taken into custody by local police and charged with Mirshahi’s first-degree murder.

In the past, Mirshahi owned and ran a private cryptocurrency investment company named “Crypto Paradise Island,” which made him well-known in the Montreal crypto world.

Although it’s unclear if Lepage invested at Crypto Paradise Island, X user “Bibi” said he was duped by Mirshahi, and other people called Mirshahi a fraud.

The investment authority in Québec was also aware of Mirshahi, and in 2021 or shortly thereafter, it prohibited Mirshahi and two other individuals from engaging in brokerage or investment advising operations.

Additionally, he was told to cease sharing relevant content on social media.

About two weeks after Mirshahi’s kidnapping, on July 4, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers extended that prohibition.

Four suspects were detained earlier this year in July on suspicion of kidnapping and killing a 29-year-old foreign national Bitcoiner in Kyiv, Ukraine, while also allegedly stealing $170,000 worth of Bitcoin.

A few weeks later in August, six Malaysians were also accused of kidnapping a Chinese individual and extorting $1 million worth of Tether, a stablecoin.