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Third Arrest Made in Manhattan Bitcoin Kidnapping, Torture Case
The incident, involving alleged abduction and abuse for nearly three weeks, comes amid a growing trend of physical attacks on cryptocurrency users.
May 27, 2025, 7:33 p.m.
What to know:
- William Duplessie, suspected of aiding in the kidnapping and torture of an Italian cryptocurrency investor, surrendered to New York City police.
- The suspect is accused of participating in a plot to extract access to a bitcoin wallet from Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan through physical and psychological abuse.
- Carturan, a former fund partner of one of the attackers, was allegedly held captive for nearly three weeks, assaulted, and tortured in a Manhattan townhouse.
A man suspected of helping kidnap and torture an Italian cryptocurrency investor in a Manhattan townhouse has surrendered to New York City police.
William Duplessie turned himself in Tuesday after what officials described as days of negotiations with authorities, the New York Times reports.
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He is the third suspect in an alleged plot to extract the keys to a bitcoin wallet belonging to Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan, a crypto fund associate who said he was held captive and abused for nearly three weeks.
The ordeal began on May 6, when Carturan arrived at a 17-room townhouse on Prince Street in Manhattan’s NoLiTa neighborhood. He was set to reconnect with former fund partner John Woeltz, who, along with another associate Beatrice Folchi, allegedly ambushed him.
Police say the group attempted to force Carturan to surrender access to his crypto holdings, reportedly worth millions, through physical threats and psychological abuse.
According to law enforcement, Carturan was assaulted, suspended from the top floor of the five-story building, and held at gunpoint. He managed to escape and alert authorities nearly three weeks later.
The New York City Police Department case has drawn attention for its brutality and connection to a growing trend of physical attacks on crypto users.
In France, the daughter and grandson of Paymium CEO Pierre Noizat were recently targeted in a failed kidnapping attempt captured on video. Earlier in the same city, a crypto millionaire’s father was abducted and had a finger severed before being rescued.
Another incident saw David Balland, co-founder of hardware wallet maker Ledger, and his wife kidnapped from their home. Authorities later rescued the couple and seized the ransom payment.
While Folchi has since been released and her prosecution deferred, Woeltz is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday. Both Woeltz and Duplessie face kidnapping, assault and illegal gun possession charges.
An attorney representing Woeltz didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
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需要了解的:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
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