Ledger wallet is not a good hardware wallet, but this kidnap is not good too. Kidnap someone is never a good action of any person or group of people.
Ledger Recovery - Send your (encrypted) recovery phrase to 3rd parties entities

There are many Bitcoin physical attacks but this one can be one of most famous or biggest case.
https://github.com/demining/Physical-Bitcoin-Attacks
https://github.com/jlopp/physical-bitcoin-attacks

Did kidnapers know who they were kidnapping? I wish to know what was their plan. Kidnap David Belland and ask for money directly from him, thinking that he is rich and hold all the funds people store using ledger. Or wanted to get access to database with seed phrases (which is silly, as ledger dont store them)?

Only the kidnappers know what their plans were, but it might be any of those you mention, or it might also not be; their plans can't be to get what the wallet developer doesn't have, but getting crypto won't be far from the reason, as it's already a known fact that a tech person and a wallet developer's possibility of also owning some heavy amount of coin is on the high side.

This brought me to thinking about whether or if he was kidnapped in the first place, because according to the statement, they said he was kidnapped and later released, but there is no clear information about whether a ransom was paid to the kidnappers or not, as for me, i just want to believe that this may be to just stir the internet and see how people will react to it, though if it happens in real life, then its a condemnable act, because it does not solve any problem already in place with the use of ledger wallet regarding privacy.

Actually his wife had also been kidnapped with him, and she has been released today without being hurt. The ransom had been partialy paid but "Nearly all of these cryptocurrencies were traced, frozen, and seized" according to a magistrate in charge of the case. The criminals demanded several millions of euros in cryptocurrencies to other Ledger associates. 10 of them had been arrested by the police, 9 men and one women, aged between 20 and 40 years old.

I will be keeping an eye on any investigations surrounding this - I have read so many stories of Ledgers being magically "hacked" when their main purpose was as a security solution, so I can't help but wonder if a victim of one of these hacks was behind this. Just a few weeks ago someone on X was posting about how they lost 5+ BTC that was stored in a ledger. Of course though, no one deserves to be kidnapped and kidnapping is no way to profit (nor recover losses), and I hope David can recover, move on, and keep himself safe going forward.

In my region, victims of kidnapping do not usually disclose much about what really transpired between them and the kidnappers. Maybe they are just being security conscious and trying not to reveal the kidnappers' tactics to the public so potential criminals don’t learn new methods. Whether there was a kidnapping case or not, this news should serve as a reminder to other crypto enthusiasts to be security conscious and avoid exposing too much about their financial lives to the public, especially when it involves crypto (Bitcoin).

It was very bad for him to find himself in such a chaotic situation, but that's the risk for people who hold cryptocurrency assets when their identities are known to the public, they just don't know when there will be danger that will target them in public. Because this is not the first time a famous person in the crypto industry has been kidnapped in public, in my city alone there was a bitcoin millionaire from Russia who was kidnapped and had to lose his assets. This is one of the reasons why it is important to maintain identity or protect yourself when in public, we just don't know when a bad day will happen to us.

I read this news several days ago, I think about 4 or 5 days ago, and from the news, It was reported that the kidnappers where asking for ransom in bitcoin.

Glad to learn that the man has been released in one peace without the kidnappers harming him, for this was the Issue I was most afraid of.

Whether ransom in bitcoin was later paid to the kidnappers as they requested, I believe no one knows, possibly they are hiding this from the general public, but what's good is to see the man back alive, this is all that matters.

Kidnapping and other forms of crime is something that has been since of old, and developments like this teaches everyone of us to take our personal security and safety very serious to avoid being a victim to such happenings as this.

The good thing is that David and his wife is already safe, although reports says that his hands or maybe it was just a finger was mutilated.

It was already reported that they have paid the ransom in crypto, has been traced and frozen. And 10 people has been questioned already the authorities.


https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/kidnapped-co-founder-of-french-crypto-firm-ledger-had-his-hand-mutilated

Hopefully, justice will be served here and those criminals be punished and sent to jail.

As others have said, this is a good example that we should really take precautions and opsec very security.