The investigation into the bitcoin torture case in New York City has revealed gruesome details about the alleged kidnapping and beating of an Italian man for his fortune in the cryptocurrency.
What we know about the bitcoin torture case
The unidentified 28-year-old man managed to escape from his alleged captors on May 23 in the affluent SoHo neighborhood in Manhattan, according to the New York Police Department. Bloodied and not wearing shoes, the man then found an NYPD traffic agent, who alerted police, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
Two cryptocurrency investors, 37-year-old John Woeltz and 33-year-old William Duplessie, have been charged with kidnapping, assault and unlawful imprisonment in the case. They’re being held without bail, and their attorneys didn’t respond to requests for comment from CBS News.
When investigators went through the SoHo town house where the man said he was held, they found a saw, crack cocaine, chicken wire, body armor, night-vision goggles, pictures of the man with a gun pointed to his head and ammunition, according to prosecutors.
Woeltz, who is originally from Kentucky, was arrested when police went to the town house. Prosecutors said the large house has eight bedrooms and that Woeltz had the means to flee the jurisdiction if granted bail, with access to a private jet and a helicopter.
Duplessie turned himself in to police on May 27, the NYPD said. His attorney said in court that Duplessie’s involvement in the case is hotly disputed and he decided to turn himself in when he found out about Woeltz’s arrest, CBS News New York reported.
The Italian man arrived at the town house on May 6, according to prosecutors. The suspects are accused of previously threatening to have the man’s family killed unless he paid them in bitcoin, and the suspects allegedly lured him to New York with an offer to return the bitcoin to him in person, prosecutors said.
The suspects then allegedly held the man captive for over two weeks as they tried to get him to give up the password for his bitcoin wallet.
During that time, the suspects are accused of shocking the man with electric wires, hitting him on the head with a gun and pointing a gun at his head several times, prosecutors said. An AirTag tracking device was tied around the man’s neck, and the suspects allegedly told him they would find him if he left the house.
Prosecutors also said the suspects allegedly hanged the man over the ledge of the building and threatened to kill him if he didn’t give up his password. The suspects also allegedly threatened to have the man’s family killed if he didn’t give them what they wanted, prosecutors said.
The man told authorities the suspects cut his leg with a saw, forced him to smoke crack cocaine and urinated on him during his captivity, according to prosecutors.
“To be tortured for 17 days in terms of a chain saw cutting your leg, in terms of putting your feet in water and electrocuting him, in terms of making the person ingest narcotics, horrible crime,” NYPD Chief of Department John Chell, the police department’s highest-ranking uniformed member, told CBS News New York.
The man escaped after telling Woeltz he would give him the password, but it was on his laptop, prosecutors said. When Woeltz went to get the laptop, the man went downstairs and bolted from the house.
Police sources told CBS News New York that two NYPD detectives did private security work for the suspects, but there isn’t any indication that the detectives knew about the alleged kidnapping. One of the detectives picked up the Italian man at an airport and brought him to the SoHo town house, two sources told CBS News New York.
The detectives were placed on desk duty May 28 and had their guns and badges taken from them pending an internal affairs investigation into the off-duty work, which the NYPD said wasn’t authorized.
One of the detectives was assigned to the security detail for New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
“Every city employee is expected to follow the law, including our officers, both on and off duty,” Kayla Mamelak Altus, Adams’ press secretary, said in a statement. “We are disturbed by these allegations, and as soon as it came to our attention, the officers were placed on modified duty.”
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