Crypto investor in New York charged in kidnapping and torture plot

[erronis]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/24/crypto-investor-tortue-kidnapping-new-york

John Woeltz, 37, being held without bail after allegedly beating, shocking and dangling man from five-story home

Another wonderful story about the marvels of investing in crypto!!!

A cryptocurrency investor was arraigned in Manhattan criminal court on Saturday morning and charged with kidnapping an Italian man and then beating and torturing him for several weeks, allegedly to extract cryptocurrency passwords.

The 37-year-old crypto investor, John Woeltz, was arrested on Friday after allegedly torturing the man in a swanky home in the upscale Manhattan neighborhood of Soho. The victim reportedly escaped the five-story home on Friday and sought help from the police, who later arrested Woeltz.

According to the New York Times, the police found Polaroid photos inside the home that documented the weeks-long torture.

Woeltz and two accomplices allegedly detained and tortured the 28-year-old man in the home Woeltz had been renting for roughly $30,000 a month. The alleged victim told the police he arrived in the US on 6 May, when he was kidnapped by Woeltz.

. . .

Expecting to see responses along the lines that a few bad apples......

[surfered]

1. Crypto is not sending their best..

[erronis]

2. Yes, they are.

Not what any sane person would call good, better, best; but that's who is attracted to these scams.

[stopdiggin]

3. since you issued the challenge ... You are then saying that this is

in some way representative of crypto players? If so - I'd say that is fairly - 'provocative' ?

[erronis]

4. I'd say playing with crypto is a form of gambling. What are your thoughts?

Is this a good place for a family to store their retirement funds?

Or a government to build/destroy a sovereign wealth fund?

[stopdiggin]

7. Yes. No. and No/Yes?

on the other hand - the kidnapping? Three weeks of torture? So, also in my humble opinion - a little bit atypical? And - possibly also bad apples? With an added dash of cray-cray?

[stillcool]

5. Yikes. that's some serious business

The Times reports that Woeltz and another man stole the victim’s devices and passport and demanded he give up his Bitcoin password so they could steal his cryptocurrency. When the victim refused, the weeks-long torture began.

The victim told the police Woeltz and the other man beat him, shocked him, hit him with a gun and pointed it at his head, and dangled him from the top of the five-story home, threatening to kill him. They also cut his leg with a saw, he said, threatened to kill his family and forced him to smoke crack cocaine, the New York Daily News reported.

[k_buddy762]

6. I've held crypto assets

for the better part of four years and I haven't tortured anyone.