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One of two suspects accused of torturing an Italian millionaire in a New York City apartment over his refusal to disclose his bitcoin password, reportedly worth $100 million, was sprung from jail after spending two months in custody.
John Woeltz, 37, was released from Rikers Island on $1 million bond, the New York Post reported. The release came a week after a Manhattan judge granted bond for Woeltz and his alleged accomplice, 33-year-old William Duplessie.
Both men are accused of kidnapping and torturing Italian crypto trader Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan. Defense attorneys argued the alleged torture was akin to “fraternity-like hazing.”
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“Mr. Carturan was there in the role of a pledge,” Woeltz’s attorney, Wayne Gosnell, said in a previous hearing, according to the Post. “He was essentially pledging and being hazed.”
Duplessie, a Miami resident, was not released Thursday. Both men have pleaded not guilty.
Woeltz, a Kentucky-based cryptocurrency investor, dodged questions about whether he tortured Carturan and how it felt to be freed from jail as he walked out of Manhattan Supreme Court, the Post reported. Sources told the newspaper the bond was a combination of cash and property put up by Woeltz’s father.
As a condition of his bail, Woeltz will be subject to home confinement and electronic monitoring. He can only leave his home for doctor’s appointments, to meet with his lawyers or for emergencies.
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Prosecutors said the pair kidnapped Carturan and tortured him over three weeks in a townhouse where they allegedly took his electronic devices and passport so he was unable to access them.
“Informant further states that the defendant and unapprehended male demanded that Informant provide the defendant with Informant’s bitcoin password so that the defendant and unapprehended male could take Informant’s Bitcoin,” a criminal complaint states.
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When Carturan refused to divulge his Bitcoin password, the pair allegedly subjected him to “beatings, including but not limited to using electric wires to shock Informant, using a firearm to hit Informant on the head causing a laceration, pointing the firearm at Informant’s head on several occasions, and carrying Informant to the top flight of stairs within the above-mentioned location and hanging Informant over the ledge as the defendant threatened to kill Informant if Informant did not provide the defendant the Informant’s Bitcoin password,” the complaint added.
Woeltz allegedly threatened the 28-year-old victim’s family in Italy while subjecting him to humiliation by having people urinate on him and forcing him to take drugs during captivity, authorities have said.
The pair allegedly wrote a manifesto about their plan to steal Carturan’s cryptocurrency, prosecutors said. The alleged victim eventually managed to escape and called a nearby traffic officer.
Both defendants are scheduled to appear in court Oct. 15.
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