Second crypto investor arrested in bitcoin kidnapping and torture case

MANHATTAN (CN) — A cryptocurrency investor accused of kidnapping and torturing an Italian man for his bitcoin turned himself in to police on Tuesday, according to New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

Speaking to Fox 5 New York on Tuesday, Tisch identified the suspect as William Duplessie.

“I can confirm that we do have someone we were looking for,” Tisch told the hosts of Good Day New York. “Mr. Duplessie is in custody as of this morning at 7:45. He turned himself in at our 13th Precinct.”

Duplessie is the second man in police custody for the kidnapping and torture of a man reportedly named Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan, who police say escaped weeks of beatings in a luxury Manhattan townhome at the hands of Duplessie and his associate John Woeltz.

Woeltz, a 37-year-old cryptocurrency investor, was arrested last week on charges of kidnapping, assault, unlawful imprisonment and possession of a firearm. Prosecutors say Woeltz stole Carturan’s electronic devices and passport, then subjected him to approximately three weeks of torture in an attempt to gain access to his bitcoin fortune.

In Woeltz’s criminal complaint, reviewed by Courthouse News, prosecutors claim that he and an “unapprehended male” — presumably Duplessie — bound Carturan’s wrists, shocked him with electric wires, hit him over the head with a gun and pointed the gun at his head on several occasions.

Police say that, at one point, the two men carried Carturan to the top of a flight of stairs inside the swanky Nolita townhouse, then dangled him over a ledge.

Throughout the torture, prosecutors say the men threatened to kill Carturan and his family if he did not provide them with access to his cryptocurrency wallet.

According to reports, Woeltz’s assistant, 24-year-old Beatrice Folchi, was also arrested but was released by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and will not be further prosecuted.

Tisch said Tuesday that Woeltz and Duplessie are the only two suspects currently being sought by police but didn’t close the door on the possibility of more.

“So far, it’s those two that we’re looking at,” Tisch said. “There may be others.”

“We know he is going to be charged with Mr. Woeltz with kidnapping and false imprisonment of an associate in SoHo,” she added.

Reporters spotted a handcuffed Duplessie coming out of the 13th Precinct building in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood Tuesday morning wearing a white polo shirt, black pants and loafers with no socks.

Some reports indicated that Duplessie turned himself in after staying at the Hamptons over the long holiday weekend. But Tisch said Tuesday that there’s “no indication” that Duplessie spent Memorial Day there.

The case made waves last week when Carturan supposedly got the attention of local police after escaping from the luxury home at 38 Prince Street — an eight-bed, 10-bath townhouse listed on numerous real estate sites for a monthly rent of $75,000.

Woeltz is next due in court on Wednesday. The Paducah, Kentucky, native is said to be worth more than $100 million and, according to reports, was tied to the victim via a crypto hedge fund in New York before the pair had a falling out over money.

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