A 37-year-old cryptocurrency investor has been charged with torturing a man for weeks in order to obtain his victim’s Bitcoin password.
John Woeltz was taken into custody on Saturday and charged with kidnapping, assault, unlawful imprisonment, and criminal possession of a gun after the victim managed to escape the Manhattan townhouse he was being held in and alert authorities.
The victim, a 28-year-old Italian national, managed to flag down a traffic agent just after 9.30 a.m. on Friday after escaping from the townhouse in Manhattan’s Nolita neighborhood. He told police he had arrived in New York from Italy on May 6 and gone to the townhouse, which Woeltz was renting for $30,000 a month.
Upon his arrival at the luxury townhouse, Woeltz and a second accomplice stole the man’s passport and electronic devices and demanded his Bitcoin password. When he refused to comply, the men took him prisoner, binding his wrists and restraining him. They reportedly spent the next three weeks inflicting a series of sadistic acts upon their prisoner, including putting a gun to his head, pistol-whipping him, shocking him with electric wires, and putting a chainsaw to his leg. On one occasion, they reportedly suspended him over a five-story ledge and threatened to kill him if he didn’t surrender his password. They also threatened to kill his family.
Beatrice Folchi, a 24-year-old who sources say was working for Woeltz as an assistant, was also arrested and charged with kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment. A third person alleged to be a participant in the abuse has not yet been apprehended by authorities.
When approached by the New York Post on Saturday, however, Folchi told the paper that she hadn’t been arrested, but that she couldn’t make any further comments on the situation.
Upon searching the townhouse, police found Polaroid photos of the victim being bound and assaulted, as well as a gun and other items used during the three-week ordeal. The police also encountered two butlers who worked at the home and agreed to be interviewed.
A family member told the New York Post that Woeltz, who is originally from Kentucky, is a “kind, caring, loving” person and must have been manipulated. The relative claimed that several others agree that someone must have “hijacked” his life and scammed him into participating in the scheme.
Woeltz is reportedly worth $100 million and owns a private jet and helicopter. He is being held without bail and was ordered to surrender his passport.
