Second Suspect Charged With Kidnapping, Assault in Crypto Torture Case

The second suspect in NYC’s notorious crypto torture caper is now cooling his heels behind bars after being hit with formal charges by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors filed a criminal court complaint Tuesday in Manhattan Criminal Court, charging Bitcoin entrepreneur William Duplessie with several felonies — kidnapping, assault, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a weapon.

At his arraignment Tuesday evening, Duplessie was ordered held without bail after prosecutors asked the judge to remand him due to the severity of the crimes.

According to the criminal complaint, Duplessie and his alleged cohort, John Woeltz, lured their business partner, Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan, to their fancy Soho townhouse earlier this month.

Police say the three men were involved in a Bitcoin venture that went awry after Duplessie and Woeltz seized Carturan’s electronic devices and passport inside the townhouse on May 6.

For the next three weeks, Duplessie and Woeltz allegedly kept Carturan a prisoner while demanding his password to a Bitcoin wallet worth millions.

But, Carturan refused to cough it up even after police say his two abductors tortured him by using electric wires to shock him and pointed a gun at his head. Duplessie and Woeltz also allegedly hung Carturan over a ledge at the top of a staircase, threatening to kill him if he didn’t turn over the password.

According to the complaint, Duplessie and Woeltz went so far as to bind and tie Carturan’s wrists, insisting they would murder his family if they didn’t get what they wanted.

Police say Carturan managed to escape, dashing out of the townhouse and flagging down an NYPD traffic enforcement agent for help.