After the transfer was completed, the man grabbed Shi\u2019s cellphone and disappeared.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/-S3840x2559-FPNG.png\"\/)
A screenshot of Tianze Zhang as he is escorted by Taiwanese officials after his arrest.<\/p>\n
The San Francisco Police Department responded that evening, sending an inspector from the burglary unit. What started as a simple home invasion would evolve into an international manhunt involving the SFPD\u2019s burglary and CSI units, as well as its federal liaison officers, a private investigator, crypto analysts, the FBI, Taiwanese authorities, and Interpol.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was the city\u2019s first high-profile example of \u201cwrench attacks,\u201d an emerging category of crime in which perpetrators rely on physical threats and violence \u2014 rather than technical hacking \u2014 to steal crypto. Dozens of incidents have occurred in the last year in major cities around the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In November, there was a violent home invasion in San Francisco (opens in new tab)<\/a> that was eerily similar to Shi\u2019s account from three years prior. A man posing as a delivery driver rang the doorbell of a Mission home, pulled a gun, and tied the resident with duct tape in an attack authorities say led to the theft of $11 million in cryptocurrency.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018Owning crypto is a little bit like storing all your money in cash under your mattress.\u2019<\/p>\n Computer security expert David Wagner\u200b<\/p>\n Now, newly obtained police documents shed light on the case of Shi, who works for the opaque crypto-focused venture capital firm D1 Ventures (opens in new tab)<\/a>, according to her LinkedIn (opens in new tab)<\/a> profile. These files detail how law enforcement agencies investigated and chased a suspect halfway around the world<\/a> in a pursuit that led to the arrest and repatriation of Tianze Zhang, Shi\u2019s former personal assistant, in June 2022. Zhang has pleaded not guilty and denies the allegations.\u00a0<\/p>\n Invasion investigation<\/p>\n \u201cOwning crypto is a little bit like storing all your money in cash under your mattress,\u201d UC Berkeley computer security expert David Wagner told The Standard<\/a> last year. \u201cIt\u2019s open for theft.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The investigation into Shi\u2019s home invasion was handed to Sgt. John Hallisy in the SFPD\u2019s Burglary Unit. According to the police reports obtained by The Standard, Hallisy did a walk-through of the scene with Shi, then recorded an interview with her.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Police collected physical evidence, including the tape and zip ties used to bind Shi and remnants of the gloves worn by the suspect. Crime-scene investigators swabbed the items for DNA.\u00a0<\/p>\n Officers soon obtained doorbell camera footage taken earlier that day of the suspect at Shi\u2019s door, wearing a balaclava and ski goggles. But it provided few clues about who was behind the mask.<\/p>\n That same day, Shi began telling friends about the robbery and sharing the image of the man at her door. Among the people she contacted was Zhang, according to the SFPD documents. The former assistant, whom she considered a friend, replied to her message later, writing that he was \u201ctaking acid in Joshua Tree with two random women.\u201d He followed up with a call saying he\u2019d been on an LSD-fueled retreat and was soon heading to Taiwan to work on a film. <\/p>\n Shi hired a private investigator named Carlos Jackson, a decision that soon paid off. Jackson obtained a video, taken by a neighbor\u2019s security camera, that appeared to capture someone walking in the area around the time the crime occurred, according to police documents.\u00a0<\/p>\n Five days later, Shi told police she\u2019d identified the man in her neighbor\u2019s video as Zhang. She said he had left her employment the month prior, and they were on good terms. Shi said she met Zhang in 2021 through a friend and had paid him via crypto. Zhang \u2014 who occasionally stayed in her home when she was traveling \u2014 might have had a house key, Shi told police.\u00a0<\/p>\n Shi did not respond to a request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n The next step of the investigation gave officers key evidence that placed Zhang near the scene of the crime. Cellphone data showed that his device pinged a cell tower near Shi\u2019s house the day before and the day of the reported break-in, police documents show.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, police were trying to track down where Shi\u2019s crypto had been sent. The SFPD first contacted the FBI, which tracked the transfer of funds from her wallet. Shi ran a parallel investigation, paying for a blockchain analytics report from a San Francisco company called Arkham Exchange, (opens in new tab)<\/a>which tracks (opens in new tab)<\/a> crypto wallet transactions.<\/p>\n The report, which Shi handed over to police, can function as a digital fingerprint tracker that allows investigators to follow the movement of funds, even when the owners\u2019 identities are obscured.\u00a0<\/p>\n Shi enlisted another company, CipherBlade, which specializes in forensic blockchain investigations. The firm provided police with deposit addresses and transaction IDs, which allegedly traced how Zhang sent money from Shi\u2019s account to his own wallet.\u00a0<\/p>\n CipherBlade, which did not respond to a request for comment, bills itself as a liaison between crime victims and police, specializing in recovering stolen assets. The SFPD used that information to get a court order requiring cryptocurrency exchange Binance (opens in new tab)<\/a> to freeze the funds.\u00a0<\/p>\n By March 23, 2022, officers had enough evidence to get an arrest warrant for Zhang.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018These allegations that have been in the paper have been there as if they are gospel. I am telling you they are not.\u2019 <\/p>\n Defense attorney David Cohen<\/p>\n An SFPD inspector found that a flight register showed Zhang had boarded a plane to Taiwan on March 17, the day after the robbery.<\/p>\n With the aid of the FBI, the SFPD contacted Taiwanese authorities to inform them about Zhang, a U.S. passport holder who lives in Los Angeles and is originally from China, police documents show.\u00a0<\/p>\n Two days after the arrest warrant was issued, Taiwanese police started their own investigation into Zhang for issues unrelated to the San Francisco heist. They alleged that he stole money from a business associate in the country, according to local news reports and a report Shi\u2019s investigator gave to the SFPD.\u00a0<\/p>\n By March 29, Interpol had been notified and issued a warrant for Zhang\u2019s arrest.\u00a0<\/p>\n Arrest and repatriation\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n After Taiwanese police opened their case against Zhang in late March, local news reports said he had cashed some of Shi\u2019s crypto and used it to pose as a wealthy businessman to a woman whom he met on a dating app. With her help, he allegedly moved from city to city across Taiwan, at times hiding in the trunk of a car.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/-S3840x3805-FPNG.png\"\/)
A headshot of Zhang issued by Interpol. | Source: Courtesy INTERPOL<\/p>\n
![\"Three](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768055349_628_-S3840x2559-FPNG.png\"\/)
Surveillance footage of Zhang, right, crawling out of the back of a vehicle while in hiding in Taiwan. <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/-S3840x5393-FPNG.png\"\/)
A Taiwanese police report alleging Zhang stole funds from a business partner. | Source: Courtesy SFPD<\/p>\n