Second suspect arrested in alleged NYC Bitcoin torture scheme

A second suspect has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping and torturing an Italian vacationer in an upscale Manhattan house for weeks in an effort to steal his cryptocurrency.

William Duplessie, 32, turned himself in to authorities on Tuesday after his alleged confederate was arrested final week.

Their alleged sufferer instructed police he was hung off a roof ledge, shocked with electrical wires and attacked with a chainsaw as his attackers demanded he reveal his Bitcoin pockets password.

Both suspects are charged with kidnapping with intent to gather ransom, assault, illegal imprisonment and different crimes.

The arrests got here after the sufferer managed to flee a house in SoHo, one of many wealthiest neighbourhoods in New York, the place he was allegedly tortured and sure for almost three weeks.

According to police, Mr Duplessie is the enterprise companion of John Woeltz, 37, who was arrested on Friday.

Mr Woeltz is a crypto investor from Kentucky and has been renting the SoHo house the place the assaults occurred for between $30,000 (£22,000) and $40,000 per thirty days, in line with the BBC’s US companion CBS News.

Police additionally arrested one other lady on Friday, however prosecutors have declined to press costs in opposition to her.

The alleged sufferer instructed police he got here to New York from Italy on 6 May, and that upon arriving on the suspect’s home, Mr Woeltz took his passport and allegedly held him captive till he escaped on Friday morning.

The sufferer, who has not been named publicly, managed to flee from the house on Friday, in line with prosecutors.

He reported the assault to police, and has been taken to hospital for remedy.

Police say he had a gun pointed at his head, was struck with the gun, and had threats made on his household as his attackers demanded he reveal his password.

A police search of the house found a number of Polaroid pictures of the sufferer being tied up and tortured, in addition to firearms and medicines within the luxurious house, police say.

In a separate case in France, police have arrested more than 20 people following a lot of kidnapping plots focusing on crypto entrepreneurs and their households.

Authorities mentioned the arrests have been in reference to investigations right into a current abduction try in Nantes and the tried kidnapping of a girl and little one in Paris in May.