They're Accused of Horrific Torture Inside N.Y.C. Apartment — and Prosecutors Say There Have Been Other Victims

Two cryptocurrency investors, who are charged in connection with the alleged weeks-long torture of an Italian tourist in an upscale Manhattan townhouse, allegedly held two other victims against their will, prosecutors said.

At an arraignment in Manhattan Supreme Court for John Woeltz, 37, and William Duplessie, 32, on Wednesday, June 11, Assistant D.A. Sarah Khan told a judge that prosecutors spoke to other law enforcement about previous occurrences of torture, per ABC6.

Woeltz and Duplessie are accused of holding the 28-year-old Italian man captive in the townhouse for two weeks while torturing him to get him to give up the password to his Bitcoin account.

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The two men allegedly tortured their victim in several ways, including bounding him by the wrists, shocking him with electrical wires and pistol-whipping him, according to the Associated Press and NBC 4. 

He eventually escaped and contacted police.

Both men have pleaded not guilty to first-degree kidnapping, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and assault.

At the hearing, Kahn also alleged that the two men poured tequila on the victim, tried to light him on fire, and urinated on him, according to ABC6.  He was also allegedly cut with a small chainsaw and was not allowed to leave the home without being guarded.

Prosecutors said that the two suspects photographed the victim in various poses to make it look like he wasn’t being held against his will.

However, Duplessie’s lawyer Sam Talkin argued that the victim’s alleged narrative was “entirely false” and that video showed him “laughing and smiling the whole time” he was allegedly kidnapped, per the Associated Press.

“The story that he is selling doesn’t make sense,” Talkin said, according to the AP.  

“Victims of abuse are not always going to act the way that we expect them to,” Khan said, per the AP.

Prosecutors said the victim was known to the two men, as they were all investing and developing crypto-related businesses.