Police ID body in Montreal park as abducted crypto influencer missing since June

MONTREAL — Quebec provincial police say a body found in a nature park last month was that of a cryptocurrency influencer who had been missing since he was kidnapped from his Old Montreal condo in June.

Kevin Mirshahi’s remains, discovered on Oct. 30 at Montreal’s Parc de l’Île-de-la-Visitation, were formally identified by the coroner’s office, police confirmed Tuesday.

Mirshahi, 25, had been missing since he and three other people in their 20s were kidnapped from the parking garage of his condo building on June 21.

Three of the four people kidnapped — two women and a man — were found alive a day later in western Montreal, but Mirshahi remained unaccounted for.

By August, Quebec provincial police had concluded Mirshahi had been killed and they arrested Joanie Lepage, 32, of Les Cèdres, 45 kilometres southwest of Montreal.

She was charged at the courthouse in Valleyfield, Que., with first-degree murder, forcible confinement and accessory after the fact to murder on Aug. 22. She is scheduled to return to court next month.

According to the charges, the killing is alleged to have taken place in Les Cèdres on the same day as the kidnapping.

Police said this week other arrests could be coming as the investigation is ongoing.

Mirshahi had been under investigation by the province’s financial regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers, which in 2021 sought an order against him, two other individuals and a company, forbidding any activities or transactions covered by the provincial Securities Act.

An administrative tribunal’s subsequent ruling included “bans on engaging in any activities as investment dealers or advisers,” including promotion on social media in connection with a specific cryptocurrency. According to the ruling, Mirshahi owned and operated a private, paid Telegram group called Crypto Paradise Island.

In July, the regulator sought and obtained another extension of that order.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.

The Canadian Press