GRANT, Minn. (FOX 9) – A Washington County family was reportedly kidnapped and held hostage at gunpoint for hours by two Texas brothers who ultimately took more than $72,000 in cryptocurrency. 

Raymond Christian Garcia, 23, and Isiah Angelo Garcia, 24, were each charged via warrant with three counts of kidnapping, three counts of first-degree burglary, and one count of first-degree aggravated robbery for their alleged roles.

The incident led to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office issued a shelter in place order while they searched for the suspects. The incident ultimately led to the cancellation of a high school homecoming football game in Mahtomedi.

Home invasion and cryptocurrency theft

The backstory:

According to the criminal complaint, a 911 call was received at approximately 4:45 p.m. on Sept. 19 from someone in Grant, Minnesota, stating that he and his family had been kidnapped and were being held hostage at gunpoint in their home. 

The complaint details that on Sept. 19, a man was taking out the garbage at around 7:45 a.m. when the armed brothers allegedly forced him back into the garage and bound his hands with zip ties. The men then woke up the two other people in the house, also binding them. 

Raymond Garcia is accused of holding the 911 caller and his mother hostage for nine hours while armed with an AR-15-style rifle. Police said the upstairs bedroom door was tied shut with wire and needed to be cut in order to free them, according to the complaint. 

Meanwhile, Isiah Garcia, armed with a shotgun, allegedly forced the man to log into his cryptocurrency wallet and transfer over $36,000 to an unknown account, charges state. After learning of a separate crypto wallet kept at the family cabin in Jacobson, Minnesota, Isiah Garcia allegedly forced the man to drive three hours and transfer the additional cryptocurrency, valued at over $36,000.

According to the complaint, the victim believed some of his crypto account information had been leaked during a data breach. The charges note that the men were frequently on the phone with an “unknown third party who directed [them] to transfer the cryptocurrency.”

The victim inside the house called 911, and multiple squad cars passed Isiah Garcia as they were driving back from the cabin. Isiah Garcia then turned the truck around, parked, and fled on foot before discarding the shotgun in a nearby field, charges allege. 

Raymond Garcia was seen on camera running out the back door of the home. During a search of the area, authorities recovered an AR-15 rifle in a suitcase located in the tree line behind the home, charges said.

Brothers arrested in Texas 

The investigation:

According to the complaint, Isiah Garcia rented a car near Houston, Texas, on Sept. 16 and drove to Minnesota. The vehicle’s GPS data placed the car near the victim’s home and a motel in Roseville. On Sept. 21, Isiah Garcia was taken into custody while driving the same rental car in Texas. 

Raymond Garcia went to authorities on Sept. 22 to report that his AR-15 had been stolen in Waller, Texas. During a search of the brother’s home in the Waller area, authorities reportedly found a firearm box with a serial number matching the AR-15 recovered in Minnesota. 

At the time the criminal complaints were filed, both men were in custody in Texas. 

By William Janes ( September 23, 2025, 2:12 PM BST) — Five people have been arrested on suspicion of carrying out a €100 million ($118 million) cryptocurrency fraud in a joint international operation by law enforcement agencies across Europe, a European Union law authority said Tuesday….

Law360 is on it, so you are, too.

A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions.

A Law360 subscription includes features such as

• Daily newsletters
• Expert analysis
• Mobile app
• Advanced search
• Judge information
• Real-time alerts
• 450K+ searchable archived articles

And more!

Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial.

Introduction

Risk-on assets thrive when there is enough money in circulation. Such assets include cryptocurrencies, stocks, high-yield bonds and other emerging markets with attractive profits. Who decides how much money is available to public for spending? Obviously, it is the government of a country. The governments devise financial plans for a fiscal year, and term them as fiscal policies.

Fiscal Policy

Governments have many tools up their sleeve to manage the economy. Fiscal policy is a tool that a government uses to collect taxes, manage spending so that economy can run stably and wealth can be distributed rationally. The aims of setting a fiscal policy is to control inflation, create job, avoid or ward off recession, and promote steady economic growth. On-chain activities on many blockchains confirm the fact that volumes surge when the government decides to cut taxes and boost spending. People have more savings to spend on speculative assets like cryptocurrencies.

However, there are three types of fiscal policies. Each has its own functions and restrictions. Not every one of them is conducive to the crypto market.

Types of Fiscal Policy

1. Accommodative (Expansionary) Fiscal Policy

In simple words, an expansionary fiscal policy aims to spend more than earn. Taxation policies are loosened to accommodate citizens. This kind of policy is usually implemented when there is a risk or onset of recession, or when there is any economic emergency like Covid-19 in 2020. Such situations result in widespread layoffs. Unemployment rises to unwanted levels. People have less to spend, so the demand for goods and services plummets headlong. These circumstances dent any economy badly.

The government responds by stimulating public spending by giving tax rebates. Savings increase and people tend to consume goods and hire services. Rising demands also creates new jobs. For example, a family will consider buying new furniture, replacing the old vehicle or renovating their house when they get some increment in savings.

Impacts on Cryptocurrencies

History reveals that risky assets pump when governments decide to implement expansionary fiscal policies. Savings end up in stocks and cryptocurrencies. The most recent example of such policy can be found in 2020. In the cryptocurrency market, it marked the beginning of stupendous bull run. Bitcoin went from $8000 in March 2020 to $69000 in November 2021. Ethereum, many utility tokens, and even meme coins printed millionaires in the course of a year and a half. Such was the boom brough forth by the expansionary fiscal policy.

Drawbacks

Expansionary fiscal policy may appear very attractive on the face value, but it is not without its drawbacks. Increased demands can give rise to inflation if the supply is lower than the demand. Secondly, more spending than earnings increasingly drags national economy to deficit. Government manages the deficit by borrowing. Borrowing pushes the interest rates higher. People tend to invest less and lend more.

2. Restrictive (Contractionary) Fiscal Policy

Just as expansionary fiscal policy adds money and causes demands to rise, restrictive fiscal policy focuses taking money out of the economy by imposing taxes and reducing spending. This can generally happen when accommodated fiscal policy has already resulted in inflation due to increased demands of goods and services. Due to low circulation of money, people delay their plans related to spending. Dwindling demand eases prices a little.

Impacts on Cryptocurrencies

For cryptocurrencies and blockchain world, such policy can prove a nightmare. People get tired of paying taxes. Businesses feel the heat and unemployment can also see a rise. Lack of savings drives people to stay away from speculative assets. Those who save something try to resort to gold and government treasury bonds. However, the price action of Bitcoin ($BTC) over the years has proved that it can prove a hedge against devaluation of fiat currencies and inflation.

Granted that $BTC is far more volatile than gold, it has progressed at incredibly rapid rate. In 2010, we could buy 1 ounce of gold for 4738 $BTC. Now in 2025, only 0.0316 $BTC are required to buy the same amount of gold. This is despite the fact that the price of 1ounce of gold has risen from $1421 to $3632 during this period. But this proved to be no competition for $BTC, which rose from a paltry $0.30 to staggering $115,000. Therefore, many big investors are drifting to Bitcoin rather than Gold for long term hedging.

3. Balanced (Neutral) Fiscal Policy

Unlike the above-mentioned policies, balanced fiscal policy aims to keep spending and earning equal. The purpose of such policies is to keep economic growth at a stable level. When there is neither deflation nor inflation, a balanced policy can work efficiently. The implementation of a balanced policy means the economy is working at its fullest potential and it needs neither any stimulus nor any restraint.

Impacts on Cryptocurrencies

In the absence of any fear or unusual hope, crypto assets are left on their own. Their technical and fundamental analysis influence their price action. In a sense, it is a good situation for investors when no news from the outside world disturbs the market. Otherwise, expansionary or contractionary fiscal policy may bring news that can neutralize chart patterns and play havoc with all sorts of analyses.

Why a Fiscal Policy Is Needed

Inflation, deflation, unemployment, and devaluation of currency can weaken any economy. A rational fiscal policy can help a country fight against these issues. Stimuli provided by expansionary policy and restraints imposed by contractionary policy are the antidotes to the evils plaguing an economy. Countries have proved that an appropriate fiscal policy can help develop infrastructure that can result in enhanced trade activities and better overall economic growth. Increased spending can facilitate provision of enviable life standards as seen in Scandinavian countries.

Conclusion

On the whole, fiscal policy is a tool of the government to stabilize the economy by means of managing taxation and public spending. Accommodative fiscal policy dictates less taxation than spending. Contractionary policy taxes more than spends. A balanced policy keeps revenue and expenditures at equal levels.