Moment barefoot crypto kidnap victim escapes after weeks of alleged torture


New video captures the moment an Italian man escaped from a SoHo townhouse where he was allegedly tortured for three weeks over his crypto account.

The harrowing footage, obtained by NBC New York, shows the 28-year-old victim, bloodied and barefoot, running up to a cop for help.

The victim, who has not been named, told authorities he had been kept inside the eight-bedroom townhouse on Prince Street, where he was tortured by two men allegedly for his crypto password.

New video shows victim after escaping alleged kidnapping, torture at Nolita townhomeVideo obtained exclusively by NBC New York shows the man who had been held and tortured inside a New York City townhouse by two businessmen demanding his Bitcoin password. He was seen running down the street disheveled and shoeless, asking a traffic officer for help

New video shows victim after escaping alleged kidnapping, torture at Nolita townhomeVideo obtained exclusively by NBC New York shows the man who had been held and tortured inside a New York City townhouse by two businessmen demanding his Bitcoin password. He was seen running down the street disheveled and shoeless, asking a traffic officer for help (NBC New York)

He said his captors shocked him with electric wires, forced him to smoke either crack or cocaine and repeatedly beat him.

At one point, he said, they dangled him over a ledge and threatened to kill him if he didn’t share the password.

New York police officers arrest John Woeltz, Friday, May 23, 2025, in New York, who was charged with kidnapping, assaulting and holding a man against his will for several weeks in an upscale Manhattan townhouse

New York police officers arrest John Woeltz, Friday, May 23, 2025, in New York, who was charged with kidnapping, assaulting and holding a man against his will for several weeks in an upscale Manhattan townhouse

Kentucky crypto investor John Woeltz was arrested Friday, hours after the victim escaped the house of horrors. He has been charged with kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, assault and weapons possession.

On Tuesday, bitcoin trader William Duplessie, 32, was arrested and faces charges of kidnapping and false imprisonment, according to New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

Prosecutors said the victim arrived in New York City from Italy in early May and was abducted on May 6. He agreed to give up his password on Friday, believing he was about to be shot, according to prosecutors.

When the captors went to retrieve his laptop, the man escaped the house and flagged down a traffic agent, who called police.

William Duplessie, right, is escorted out of the New York Police 13th Precinct after turning himself in on charges of kidnapping and false imprisonment, Tuesday, May 27, 2025, in New York

William Duplessie, right, is escorted out of the New York Police 13th Precinct after turning himself in on charges of kidnapping and false imprisonment, Tuesday, May 27, 2025, in New York (AP)

A search of the townhouse turned up a trove of evidence, prosecutors said, including cocaine, a saw, chicken wire, body armor and night vision goggles, ammunition and Polaroid photos of the victim with a gun pointed to his head and a crack pipe in his mouth, the Associated Press reported.

The victim was hospitalized with injuries to his wrists consistent with being bound, cuts to his face and other injuries, authorities said.



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