The two suspects in NYC’s crypto kidnapping and torture case just can’t catch a break … prosecutors just unsealed an indictment charging them with a series of felonies — one day after their Kentucky home was raided by the feds.
Bitcoin investors John Woeltz and William Duplessie were indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on charges of kidnapping, assault, coercion, attempted grand larceny and criminal possession of a weapon, according to new court documents.
On Tuesday, federal agents with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives descended on a Smithland, KY, estate owned by Woeltz and Duplessie, sources with direct knowledge told TMZ.
Our sources say the raid was carried out with officers from the Kentucky State Police and the New York Police Department who executed two warrants at the property.
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A rep for the ATF told us the operation was part of an “ongoing violent crime investigation” in conjunction with the NYPD.
As we reported … Woeltz, AKA the “Crypto King of Kentucky,” and Duplessie were arrested last month in NYC after allegedly kidnapping and torturing Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan inside a Manhattan townhouse. Prosecutors say the three men were partners in a Bitcoin venture that eventually went awry.
Per the prosecutors, Woeltz and Duplessie held Carturan against his will inside the townhouse for over 17 days to get him to give up the password to his Bitcoin wallet, but Carturan refused.
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Carturan managed to escape barefoot and flag down a traffic agent on the street … he told police Woeltz and Duplessie cut his leg with a saw, peed on him and forced him to smoke crack cocaine from a pipe they held to his mouth.
TMZ obtained exclusive video of Carturan running down the street after the traffic cop, and then heading back towards the townhouse with the same traffic agent.
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We also published other footage calling into question whether Carturan was held against his will at certain points, as police and prosecutors allege.
Photos show Carturan shirtless and smiling inside the townhouse, with a neck collar attached to a leash that a woman is pulling … simulating an S&M scene.
Other clips capture Carturan apparently cooking crack cocaine in an air fryer while tied to a wheelchair with his hands free and a big grin on his face … and partying and having sex.
