Chilling new video captures the moment an Italian cryptocurrency millionaire broke free from his kidnappers, following what authorities described as a violent torture ordeal inside a luxury townhouse in SoHo for more than two weeks.
The disturbing video obtained by NBC New York shows a shaken and barefoot Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan — an Italian millionaire bitcoin investor — running to an NYPD traffic officer on Friday, visibly distressed and traumatized. Carturan had just escaped from a lavish six-story apartment on Prince Street where he was allegedly chained up, electrocuted and brutally taunted with a chainsaw for 17 days by captors who demanded access to his cryptocurrency password, according to the authorities.
Dramatic Escape from Captivity
A distressed Carturan told the officer that he managed to flee after being warned it would be his "death day." Police said that he had visible bruises, cuts, and ligature marks on his wrists from being tied up.
Cops raided the location and arrested John Woeltz — dubbed the "Crypto King of Kentucky" — on multiple charges including kidnapping, assault, unlawful imprisonment, and illegal firearm possession.
Woeltz, 38, is accused of helping to concoct a sadistic scheme to lure Carturan — reportedly a former business associate of both Woeltz and William Duplessie — to New York in a bid to gain access to his cryptocurrency funds.
Duplessie surrendered to police on Tuesday with his legal team and is expected to be charged, though his exact role in the incident remains unclear, according to NBC 4.
Folchi, Woeltz's 24-year-old Italian assistant, was also detained but later released. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office said it will not move forward with charges against her at this time, pending further investigation.
Police searched Woeltz's home on Friday after Carturan claimed he had escaped from the house, where he alleged he had been held against his will since May 6.
Raid Provides Evidence of Torture
During the raid, investigators found a trove of evidence, including Polaroid photographs showing Carturan bound and tortured. Cops also recovered various tools believed to have been used for torture, along with a firearm that sources told NBC 4 was used to intimidate and harm him.
According to Carturan, he was lured to the SoHo townhouse by his former associate, Woeltz, under the pretense of recovering Bitcoin previously taken from him. Instead, he says he was restrained, electrocuted, pistol-whipped, and menaced with a chainsaw as the captors demanded access to his cryptocurrency accounts.
Carturan also alleged that Woeltz and another man threatened to harm his family if he didn't give up the passwords to his crypto accounts. Fearing for his life, Carturan pretended he was ready to share the password. When Woeltz went to retrieve his laptop from another room, Carturan took the opportunity to flee down the stairs and escape.
He was later taken to a local hospital, where doctors treated facial cuts, wrist injuries consistent with restraints, and multiple other wounds. Prosecutors described him as being in a deeply traumatized state.
Sources close to the investigation said this wasn't the first time Woeltz and William Duplessie had intimidated Carturan — though previous encounters hadn't reached the same level of violence.
