NEW YORK — A Manhattan grand jury has indicted a 37-year-old cryptocurrency investor accused of kidnapping and torturing a business associate in a brazen three-week attempt to steal his Bitcoin holdings, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
The suspect, John Woeltz, was arrested on May 23 and charged with multiple offenses following a disturbing series of events that unfolded in New York’s upscale SoHo neighborhood earlier this month. According to a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan Criminal Court, Woeltz, along with alleged accomplice William Duplessie, 33, forcibly detained an Italian man on May 6 in a bid to gain access to his cryptocurrency accounts.
Authorities say Woeltz and Duplessie took the victim’s passport and electronic devices, demanding that he surrender his Bitcoin password. When he refused, the men allegedly subjected him to physical torture, including electrical shocks and being dangled over a staircase. Prosecutors also stated that the victim was tied up, pistol-whipped, and threatened with violence against his family.
Despite the brutal treatment, the man eventually escaped and alerted law enforcement. Both suspects were subsequently arrested — Woeltz on May 23 and Duplessie on May 28. Court records indicate that both men have ties to a New York-based cryptocurrency hedge fund.
Neither Woeltz nor Duplessie has entered a plea. Their attorneys have declined to comment on the charges.
Duplessie is scheduled for a preliminary court hearing on Friday. Woeltz is expected to be formally arraigned on June 11. Judges have ordered that both men remain in custody pending further proceedings.
The case has drawn significant media attention due to the rare and extreme measures allegedly used in an effort to obtain digital assets — a sign of the increasing stakes involved in the world of cryptocurrency investing.
Source; Reuters.com
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