A new police thriller Sacoda New York: the meeting between Kentucky’s “King of Cryptocurrency”, his colossal-looking partner and an Italian businessman who would have been kidnapped and tortured to steal millions of dollars in Bitcoins.
He told the agent that he had just escaped a luxury house where he had been kept in captivity for 17 days by two men.
Police went to the scene and arrested 37 -year -old John Woeltz, the “Kentucky Cryptocurrency King,” according to local media. He was accused of kidnapping, illegal possession of weapons, aggression and private jail. His 24 -year -old assistant was also arrested, but was not formally accused.
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A second man, William Duplessie, 33, from Miami, founder of the startup Pangea Blockchain International, suspected of the same crimes, surrendered on Tuesday and appeared to court on Friday, wearing a prisoner uniform.
Degree in Philosophy
According to the details of the accusation, the alleged victim, the Italian businessman of cryptocurrencies Michael Valentino Theofrasto Carturan, went to the house rented by John Woeltz – for which he would pay about $ 30,000 a month, according to the press – after arriving from Italy on May 6.
There, Woeltz and Duplessie confiscated their electronic devices and passport, demanding the passwords of their bitcoins account, as reported to the police. =
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When he refused, the two men tortured him: they hit him with a rifle, pointed the gun to his face, dormed him, and took him to the fifth floor of the building, where they threatened him from throwing him from the top, according to the accusation.
“Woeltz is a 37-year-old man who has never been arrested, has no criminal record, has a university degree in philosophy and has been very successful in the technology sector,” said his lawyer, Wayne Ervin Gosnell, during a hearing on Thursday in a New York court.
The defense requested freedom on bail worth two million dollars, on the condition that Woeltz will not leave the state of New York.
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Both declared themselves innocent. If they are considered guilty of the main prosecution of kidnapping, they may face penalties ranging from 25 years to life imprisonment.
Luxury life
“Contrary to what was reported, Woeltz has no private jet or helicopter,” said his lawyer.
But, according to the New York Post and the Specialized Site TMZ, who published images of the two suspects in the New York night club “The Box”, they led a life of ostentation.
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In recent months, cases of kidnapping or kidnapping attempts in the cryptocurrency world have multiplied around the globe, in a context of extreme valuation, especially Bitcoin, which has reached historical records.
For Adam Health, president of Station70, a company that specializes in cryptocurrency security, these attacks are not new.
“What is increasing is frequency and cruelty,” he told AFP.
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“Before, if you wanted to kidnap someone with a high equity and, say, extracting $ 10 million from your account, it was very difficult. You would not simply go to the bank and withdraw the money. With cryptocurrencies, just have a username and a password,” he explained.
The case may be clarified as the judicial process advances and the contents of the suspects’ phones and computers are analyzed, as well as the messages exchanged with the alleged victim.
But for now “there are so many strange elements in this case that it is as if 1 + 1 is not equal to 2,” concluded Health.
