John Woeltz made headlines on Friday following his arrest in New York City for allegedly kidnapping and torturing a man in a bid to get access to his Bitcoin password. Prior to that, the 37-year-old Woeltz once held a very different reputation as a rising star in the crypto world.
Woeltz, also known as the “crypto king of Kentucky,” was apprehended on Friday after a man escaped from his luxury NoLIta apartment and flagged down a traffic agent who called police, according to the New York Times. The victim, a 28-year-old Italian citizen named Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan, was allegedly held in the 17-room townhouse for three weeks.
The ordeal ensued after Carturan, a business partner of Woeltz, arrived at the townhouse on May 6. Woeltz and his accomplice confiscated Carturan’s passport and electronic devices, threatening to harm him if he did not provide the password to his Bitcoin wallet that held millions of dollars worth of crypto.
Lawyers for Woeltz did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lawyers for Duplessie declined to comment when contacted by Fortune.
He entered the crypto space around 2018, when he served as part of the winning team at ETHGlobal San Francisco hackathon, an annual event put on by an Ethereum-focused organization. He then went on to become the managing director of Silicon River Capital and blockchain-based investment fund, according to his interview in the local paper.
Woeltz has been charged with kidnapping, assault, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a firearm, according to court documents.
