Kentucky Fried Crypto
The story so far: A self-proclaimed
crypto-king of Kentucky↱ is under arrest in Manhattan for the abduction and torture of an Italian businessman in order to acquire a Bitcoin password. Per
Associated Press↱:
… the district attorney's office said in an email that prosecutor Michael Mattson told a judge Saturday that the victim, whose name has not been released, was abducted on May 6. Mattson said others were involved in the scheme to empty the victim's Bitcoin wallet. That includes a person referred to in court records as an "unapprehended male."
The victim said he was bound by the wrists and tortured for weeks inside the apartment. His captors, according to prosecutors, drugged him, used electric wires to shock him, hit him in the head with a firearm and, at one point, carried him to the top of a flight of stairs where they dangled him over a ledge and threatened to kill him if he didn't share his Bitcoin password ....
.... A search of the town house turned up a trove of evidence, Mattson said, including cocaine, a saw, chicken wire, body armor and night vision goggles, ammunition and polaroid photos of the victim with a gun pointed to his head.
And the update, via
WABC↱:
A second crypto suspect wanted for torturing an Italian man in Soho is expected to surrender to detectives this week.
The second man, described as a Swiss cryptocurrency investor, will join 37-year-old John Woeltz when he turns himself in with his lawyers ....
.... He has been charged with assault, kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, and criminal possession of a firearm ....
.... Police arrested and charged two people, including Woeltz, in connection with the SoHo apartment incident on Friday. Officials say Woeltz lived at the address on Prince Street.
Another suspect, a female, was also arrested but was not charged.
The detail is impressive:
Police descended on the opulent brownstone on Prince Street as detectives tried to make sense of the depraved story they heard from the victim, who said he'd been held captive for weeks.
The 28-year-old victim told police he arrived from Italy on May 6 and went to the home on Prince Street.
He told detectives they had taken his passport and tortured him for the last two weeks.
Police said the group was looking to extort him for millions in crypto after luring him back from Italy.
Investigators said they tied him up with electrical cords and tortured him with electrocutions and other types of shock treatment.
They also allegedly tased him with his feet in water, pistol-whipped him, and threatened to cut his limbs off with an electric chainsaw.
Police said they took Polaroids of themselves torturing him, one showing him bound to a chair with a gun to his head. The Polaroids were likely to extort money, either from the victim or his family back in Italy.
They also allegedly forced him to take drugs, like cocaine, and used other psychological torture, telling him he would never escape. They also allegedly put an AirTag around his neck to know where he was in the building, where he had limited mobility.
Police said the victim saw his opportunity to make an escape Friday morning because the men allegedly indicated it would be his death day ....
.... Police said the inside of the house was trashed with broken glass, helmets, night vision goggles, and a bulletproof vest in plain sight. Investigators found a saw, crack cocaine, blood, bullets, and a gun, along with Polaroids of the victim with a gun to his head.
Police then found a gun and requested a search warrant for a more detailed search.
The victim sustained numerous cuts on his body from the torture, including one believed to be from the chainsaw, and is being treated at Bellevue Hospital, police said.
A couple things go here: In questions of high finance, episodes like these are going to occur. And a coke-fueled crypto gang is the sort of thing that will only become significant in larger narratives if that's what happens to be true. That is to say, this is most likely, and until otherwise indicated, a one-off.
Still, if this was, say,
Bitcoin: The Series, if it's not an organized-crime drama or political-cabal thriller, then maybe a coke opera, or, better yet, a sitcom with some young salaries living above their means sitting around a coffee shop talking urban legends over a slap-pop fusion soundtrack.
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Notes:
@BlueATLGeorgia. "Here's a completely bonkers story. John Woeltz, known as the Crypto King of Kentucky, was arrested in SoHo for holding an Italian tourist hostage, torturing him, and threatening to kill his family, in an attempt to get his Bitcoin password." X. 25 May 2025. X.com. 26 May 2025. status/1926842123736805531
Eyewitness News. "2nd crypto suspect wanted in torture of Italian man expected to surrender to police". WABC. 26 May 2025. ABC7NY.com. 26 May 2025. https://abc7ny.com/post/2nd-crypto-...s-partner-expected-surrender-police/16553486/
Sisak, Michael R. and Rio Yamat. "A crypto investor is charged with kidnapping and torturing a man in an NYC apartment for weeks". Associated Press. 24 May 2025. APNews.com. 26 May 2025. https://apnews.com/article/new-york-city-kidnapping-cryptocurrency-16ccb88647944281ab6af10503d17eb5
