An Italian tourist’s barefoot dash onto a SoHo sidewalk has cracked open one of the most violent crypto-ransom plots ever seen in New York City.

With the surrender of William Duplessie, 32, on Tuesday, police say they have now charged two business partners who allegedly imprisoned and tortured the 28-year-old for 17 days in a luxury townhouse to force access to his multimillion-dollar Bitcoin wallet.

A townhouse turned torture chamber

Detectives describe an eight-bedroom home on Prince Street rented for up to $40,000 a month. Inside, the victim was allegedly hung over a roof ledge, shocked with electrical wires, and menaced with a chainsaw. Officers later recovered Polaroid photos of the assaults along with firearms and narcotics.

Timeline of terror

• 6 May 2025 – Victim arrives from Italy, passport seized.
• 6–23 May 2025 – Seventeen-day captivity marked by escalating violence and threats to the victim’s family.
• 23 May 2025 – The Victim escapes while the suspects search for his laptop.
• 24 May 2025 – First suspect, John Woeltz, 37, arrested and arraigned.
• 27 May 2025 – Duplessie walks into an NYPD precinct and is charged.

Who are Woeltz and Duplessie?

Woeltz, a self-styled “crypto king” from Kentucky, and Duplessie, his long-time business partner, are believed to have courted high-net-worth investors through a string of blockchain start-ups. Prosecutors argue both men are flight risks, citing offshore assets and Swiss business ties. Bail has been denied.

Security analysts warn that the SoHo case exemplifies a pivot from digital theft to what industry insiders call “wrench attacks”, brute-force, real-world coercion for private keys. The FBI estimates $9.3 billion in crypto-linked losses last year in the US, with a growing share tied to kidnappings and home invasions.

Only days earlier, French police arrested more than 20 suspects in separate plots targeting crypto entrepreneurs in Nantes and Paris. Investigators say the schemes relied on the same playbook: kidnap, terrorise, demand wallet credentials.

What happens next?

The Manhattan District Attorney is expected to present the case to a grand jury. Meanwhile, civil attorneys predict a flurry of litigation against short-term rental platforms and a fresh push for insurance products that pair cyber policies with personal-security coverage.

For crypto investors, the lesson is blunt. Hardware wallets and multi-signature protocols protect against online hackers, but real-world privacy, from travel plans to rental addresses, may now be the difference between digital fortune and physical danger from ‘wrench attacks.’

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