Who wrote the extortion email? How do we know these are the abductors?
Anyone can write an email asking for money. That doesn't mean they are kidnappers. They could be scammers and totally unrelated to this.
You know who could pull such a stint? A person of Jacques Moretti type (the owner of "constellation", a Swiss bar that burned). Criminal background, investing into legal businesses.
Maybe someone like this is now having a cousin living in the US...
I think there is a high chance that the cryptocurrency will end up in the hands of the scammer somewhere either way, but:
JMO:
- if NG was "disappeared" by someone known to her and is either kept somewhere or, sadly, expired, and the abductors asked some "crypto guru" to help them get ransom:
then, who can guarantee that the said "guru" is interested in forwarding cash to "the ones who disappeared her"? He won't! Sending the money back ties the person with the crime! While keeping it is a smaller deal. Just "accepting a crypto transaction".
- so if the person is just a scammer then the family has neither money nor Nancy
- however: if it is "a family member of someone close to the Gs" and the said member is living abroad and dealing in crypto, then he will buy a family business such as a restaurant back home, and the "person the Gs know" will sooner or later leave the US and join the family business. But I doubt that it will return NG back.
I think the timing is interesting. There are Olympics going on in Europe. The Interpol is busy. So one wonders.