Days after a crypto millionaire escaped from an upscale townhouse in lower Manhattan, two people have been arrested and charged in connection to an alleged kidnapping and torture scheme. The two men, John Woeltz and William Duplessie, are now expected to appear in court for various hearings in the coming days
Woeltz, a 37-year-old crypto investor, was arrested last Friday, May 23, and Duplessie, 33, surrendered himself to the New York Police Department on Tuesday, May 27. The alleged victim was Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan, an Italian man with ties to a New York-based crypto hedge fund that Woeltz was also linked to, according to an internal police report obtained by The New York Times. Woeltz and Duplessie allegedly held Carturan hostage for about 17 days, demanding he reveal the password to his Bitcoin wallet while allegedly subjecting him to beatings, electric shocks, and forced drug use.
Following their arrests, Woeltz and Duplessie were charged with several counts of kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment, as well as assault and weapons charges. Neither have entered pleas yet. A lawyer for Duplessie declined to comment, while a lawyer for Woeltz did not immediately return a request for comment.
William Duplessie in police custody on May 27, 2025.
Barry Williams
Woeltz is currently being held without bail and his been ordered to surrender his passport. At a court hearing today, May 28, Woeltz’s lawyer accused prosecutors of “playing games with discovery” after handing over redacted material the court had not agreed on. The issue will be addressed at a second hearing on Thursday, per NBC 4.
Duplessie is also being held without bail after a judge rejected a request for a $1 million bond package that would’ve allowed him to serve home detention with his father in Florida.
Authorities also briefly arrested a third party in the alleged scheme, 24-year-old Beatrice Folchi, who purportedly worked as Woeltz’s assistant. While Folchi was initially hit with kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment charges too, she was ultimately released and her prosecution was deferred.
The alleged kidnapping and torture of Carturan is part of a growing wave of attacks targeting crypto whales, executives, and their relatives. These ransom schemes have even garnered a specific name, “wrench attacks,” due to their often violent nature. (In one recent attack in France, a crypto founder had one of his fingers cut off, while in a separate incident an influencer was found in the trunk of a car, tied up and covered in gasoline.)
As for Carturan’s alleged capture, the internal police report stated that the plot was carried out after Carturan and Woeltz fell out over money. Carturan had flown back to Italy, but Woeltz allegedly convinced him to return to New York. Upon arriving at the townhouse in Manhattan’s Nolita neighborhood, Woeltz and Folchi grabbed him, took him into the house, and demanded the password to his Bitcoin wallet. He refused.
Inside the house, according to charging documents obtained by Rolling Stone, Carturan was hit with a gun and tied with electrical cords. His kidnappers also allegedly dunked his feet in water and shocked him with a taser. Carturan later told authorities they also urinated on him; used a chainsaw to slice his leg; forced him to smoke crack cocaine; and at one point dragged him to the top of the stairs of the building and dangled him over the ledge.
After nearly three weeks, Carturan found a way to escape, he said. He told his alleged captors that he was finally ready to hand over the password to his wallet contained on his laptop. When Woeltz left to get the computer, Carturan allegedly fled down the stairs and out of the house.
Surveillance footage obtained by NBC 4 showed Carturan running down a New York street barefoot, clutching a bag, and seeking help from a nearby traffic cop. Woeltz was arrested not long after, while Duplessie spent the next few days negotiating the terms of his surrender with the police.
Upon investigating the townhouse, police allegedly found blood splatters and recovered an array of items, including a saw, chicken wire, ballistic helmets, body armor, and night vision goggles. Crack cocaine was found at the scene as well, along with t-shirts emblazoned with photos of Carturan with a crack pipe in his mouth. Additionally, police found Polaroid pictures of Carturan with a firearm pointed to his head, along with gun ammunition.
Both Woeltz and Duplessie have ties to the tech and crypto worlds. After graduating from the University of Kentucky, Woeltz moved to Silicon Valley and began his career as an investor. Circa 2020, he said he was working as the managing director of a blockchain-focused investment fund, while he was also involved in projects designed to bring tech and crypto mining jobs to Kentucky. At one point, he reportedly served as an advisory member of a working group set up by Kentucky lawmakers that was looking into how blockchain technology could help improve infrastructure security.
Duplessie, meanwhile, co-founded a Lugano, Switzerland-based investment firm called the Pangea Blockchain Fund with his father and another relative in 2019. They raised about $19 million to invest in companies doing work on the blockchain, but Pangea’s now-sparse website says it’s “currently liquidating its positions.”
Duplessie has also spent the past 10 years living in various states — including California, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Florida — and contending with numerous legal issues. These have often sprung from unpaid bills for luxury items, such as monthly payments on a Lamborghini and a furnished home in Miami. (According to court records, the Lamborghini lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed in 2023, while the dispute over the home was resolved earlier this year.) Last December, he was sued for allegedly rear-ending a car while driving a Porsche. (This case remains ongoing.)
It’s still unclear how exactly Woeltz and Duplessie know each other, though they both do have ties to Kentucky. Woeltz is originally from Paducah, while Duplessie spent some time in Smithland, about 20 miles away.