The Kentucky-based cryptocurrency investor accused of kidnapping and torturing an Italian businessman in a sadistic attempt to extort his Bitcoin password was ordered held without bail Saturday by a Manhattan judge.
John Woeltz faces charges of first-degree kidnapping, first-degree unlawful imprisonment, second-degree assault, and criminal possession of a weapon in the chilling alleged two-week imprisonment in Soho.
The Manhattan Criminal Court judge granted the Manhattan District Attorney’s office request to hold Woeltz, 37, without bail. Woeltz will also be required to turn over his passport, authorities said.
The victim, 28, broke out of the house of horrors Friday morning and reported his sick abuse and imprisonment to a police officer, law enforcement sources said.
Several Polaroids at the luxurious Prince Street pad – which Woeltz was allegedly renting for $30,000 to $40,000 a month – showed the victim being tied up with electrical wire and tortured, as well as one of him bound to a chair with a gun pointed at his head, the sources said.
He was also tased while his feet were put in water, pistol-whipped, forced to take cocaine and threatened to have his limbs chopped off with an electric chainsaw while being held captive, according to the sources.
First-degree kidnapping is a felony in New York and can carry a sentence of up to 25 years behind bars.
This is a developing story.
