NYC Crypto Torture Suspects
Feds Raid Their Kentucky Estate
Published
Feds are poking around a home owned by the two suspects charged with kidnapping and torturing an Italian man for weeks inside a swanky multimillion-dollar New York City townhouse in an alleged scheme to obtain a Bitcoin password.
Cryptocurrency investor John Woeltz and his alleged accomplice, Swiss businessman William Duplessie, own an estate in Kentucky … and the property is currently crawling with law enforcement.
Federal agents from the ATF and officers from the Kentucky State Police and the New York Police Department are currently executing two warrants at the property … sources with knowledge have confirmed to TMZ.
The ATF tells us the operation is part of an “ongoing violent crime investigation in conjunction with the New York Police Department. Kentucky State Police provided tactical assistance that involved the service of two court-authorized warrants. As this is an active and ongoing investigation, we are not able to comment further.”
As we reported … Woeltz, also known as the “Crypto King of Kentucky,” and Duplessie were arrested last month in NYC and charged in a sealed indictment with kidnapping and torture.
Prosecutors say Woeltz and Duplessie lured Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan from Italy to New York, where they kidnapped him and tortured him inside their Manhattan townhouse over the course of 17 days in an attempt to get him to give up the password to his Bitcoin wallet.
TMZ.com
Carturan told authorities, Woeltz and Duplessie cut his leg with a saw, peed on him and forced him to smoke crack cocaine from a pipe they held to his mouth. He says he managed to escape, running barefoot out of the townhouse and flagging down a traffic cop.
We obtained exclusive video of Carturan running down the street after the traffic cop, and then heading back towards the townhouse with the same traffic agent.
TMZ.com
TMZ also published other footage calling into question whether Carturan was held against his will at certain points, as is alleged.
Photos show Carturan shirtless and smiling inside the townhouse, with a neck collar attached to a leash that a woman is pulling … simulating an S&M scene.
Other videos capture Carturan apparently cooking crack cocaine in an air fryer while tied to a wheelchair with his hands free and a big grin on his face … and partying and having sex.
