ADDITIONAL SUSPECT CHARGED IN A KIDNAPPING AND TORTURE INVOLVING BITCOIN MILLIONS
William Duplessie, surrendered to the police Tuesday morning. Authorities have said the victim was an Italian man who was tormented in a luxury Manhattan townhouse for weeks.
Duplessie is the third person accused of kidnapping and torturing a man for nearly three weeks to steal his Bitcoin fortune. Duplessie surrendered to the police in New York City on Tuesday morning, Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch said.
Duplessie who has connections to Switzerland and Miami, spent days negotiating his surrender with the Police Department after the arrest on Friday of two other suspects.
Mr. Duplessie was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Courthouse on Tuesday night and charged with kidnapping, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison. He was also charged with assault, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a weapon. He was held without bail.
John Woeltz, 37, a cryptocurrency investor, faces charges of kidnapping, assault, and firearms after his arrest on Friday. Beatrice Folchi, 24, initially charged with kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment, was released with deferred prosecution.
Around 11:30 a.m., Woeltz was escorted from a Manhattan precinct in handcuffs, unresponsive to questions, and placed in a police cruiser.
The incident gained attention when the victim, Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan, escaped from a townhouse in NoLIta, where he was held captive, and flagged down a traffic agent.
According to police reports, Carturan and Woeltz had ties to a New York crypto hedge fund but had a falling out over money. After Carturan flew to Italy, Woeltz convinced him to return to New York. Upon his return on May 6, Carturan was captured at the townhouse by Woeltz and Folchi, who sought the password to his multimillion-dollar Bitcoin wallet.
Mr. Carturan was bound with electrical cords and whipped with a gun, according to the report. The attackers also submerged his feet in water and used a Taser to jolt him with electricity. At points they also urinated on him, forced him to smoke crack cocaine and threatened to kill his family, prosecutors said.
Inside the townhouse, which was recently listed for rent at $75,000 a month, investigators discovered photographs of Mr. Carturan being tortured, as well as several guns, a ballistic vest, chicken wire, broken furniture and traces of blood — much of it on the third floor of the home, according to the report and prosecutors.
Mr. Carturan said that as he rebuffed his captors’ demands, the assaults escalated, and he was carried to the top of the five-story home and suspended over the ledge.
After his escape, Mr. Carturan told the police the harrowing story, according to the report.