(Bloomberg) — Two males accused of kidnapping and torturing an Italian vacationer in an try to drive him to show over entry to his cryptocurrency accounts pleaded not responsible to an indictment charging them with first-degree kidnapping.
The defendants, John Woeltz and William Duplessie, made their pleas earlier than New York State Supreme Court docket Justice Gregory Carro in Manhattan on Wednesday and have been held with out bail pending one other look in July. Assistant District Legal professional Sarah Khan requested Carro to maintain the 2 males in jail, whereas their attorneys requested they be launched on $1 million bail packages.
The 2 have been arrested after the sufferer, severely injured and barefoot, escaped from the Prince Road townhouse the place he was allegedly being held on Might 23 and flagged down a visitors officer. The case comes amidst a spate of crimes concentrating on high-profile crypto traders and executives, together with an tried kidnapping of relations of the chief government of French crypto trade Paymium final month.
Duplessie’s lawyer, Sanford Talkin, argued that his shopper voluntarily surrendered and isn’t a threat of flight. He mentioned prosecutors’ allegations that the sufferer was held and tortured are “fully false” and that there are movies exhibiting the sufferer smoking crack, being concerned in a “intercourse orgy” and “having the time of his life.”
Khan mentioned the sufferer was mates with the defendants for a number of years and finally launched them to one another. All three have been concerned in cryptocurrency and several other months in the past, the defendants allegedly persuaded the sufferer to journey to a location outdoors of Manhattan the place they satisfied him to show over his gadgets in addition to a passkey, depriving him of entry to “a considerable sum of money.” The sufferer left voluntarily and months later the pair invited him to a different assembly in Manhattan.
“Throughout this time he felt threatened by them,” Khan mentioned. “He gave them extra digital gadgets and he felt that if he didn’t, unhealthy issues would occur to him and his household.”
The sufferer then went house, however got here again on Might 6 in response to threats from the defendants. He was then captive, his telephone was taken away and he was consistently watched, Khan mentioned. He was allegedly pistol whipped and lower with a small chainsaw, and the defendants organized for him to be photographed in “numerous poses and acts to create the impression he was not being held in opposition to his will.” He was not allowed to depart with out an escort, she mentioned, however on Might 23, the sufferer lastly escaped, barefooted, and “made a determined run to the primary uniformed officer he noticed.”
The sufferer acquired medical therapy and has by no means acquired any of his a reimbursement, Khan mentioned. His account has been corroborated by different sources, she mentioned, and a search warrant executed on the residence the place he was allegedly held led to the invention of a loaded pistol and a chainsaw, in addition to {a photograph} of one of many defendants putting a gun to the sufferer’s head and one other picture of him tied to a wheelchair.
Prosecutors are nonetheless reviewing quite a few gadgets that have been recovered from the situation, together with about 30 cell telephones and laptops and one other 30 storage gadgets, she mentioned.
“He got here and went as he happy,” Talkin mentioned, noting {that a} canine walker informed them the sufferer would take common strolls with him. Talkin additionally mentioned the protection has obtained surveillance movies of the sufferer hanging outdoors of a close-by eyeglass retailer 36 hours earlier than he left the residence the place he was laughing, smoking and speaking with passerby.
“The story that he’s promoting simply doesn’t make sense,” Talkin mentioned.
The alleged sufferer was “out and about within the neighborhood all through the time he was right here in New York,” Woletz’s lawyer, Wayne Gossell, mentioned. “He was at church, he was at golf equipment, he was at dinner.”
Khan mentioned that “somebody in defendants’ circle” is selectively leaking movies to fight the prosecutors’ allegations and urged the choose to assessment the proof within the case earlier than making a choice on bail, saying they’ve proof of the sufferer being lit on fireplace and that “victims of abuse should not all the time going to behave in a method that we anticipate folks to do.” There’s proof that the defendants typically poured tequila on the sufferer and set him ablaze earlier than placing the flames out, typically by urinating on him, which “reveals the severity of issues that have been occurring in that home.”
Prosecutors have additionally been informed by different regulation enforcement companies that this isn’t the primary time that these defendants have held folks in opposition to their will, and that there are least two different alleged victims in different areas.
Carro declined to set bail after Wednesday’s listening to, saying he needs to assessment the grand jury minutes. He set a standing convention for July 15.
–With help from Olga Kharif.
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