A person who says he was kidnapped by two crypto traders for his Bitcoin was seen in images and movies “laughing and smiling” and shifting about Manhattan freely in the course of the days he claimed he was held captive and tortured, attorneys for the 2 suspects mentioned in court docket Wednesday.
William Duplessie and John Woeltz pleaded not responsible and had been ordered held in custody till their subsequent court docket date on July 15. Prosecutors argue the person was clearly in misery as a result of he ran barefoot to the closest police officer after escaping 17 days in captivity.
Nonetheless, Duplessie’s lawyer mentioned Wednesday that movies present the accuser taking part in group intercourse and smoking crack cocaine whereas “laughing and smiling the whole time.”
This exhibits that his story about being in misery or held in opposition to his will “is entirely false,” Sam Talkin mentioned.
In different images, the accuser is seen visiting an eyeglass retailer with one of many defendants, Talkin mentioned, noting he may have fled or sought assist at any time.
“The story that he is selling doesn’t make sense,” Talkin mentioned in Manhattan prison court docket because the defendants had been formally arraigned.
Woeltz’s lawyer Wayne Gosnell added that witnesses instructed him the accuser got here and went as he happy from the upscale townhouse the place he says he was held — going to church, golf equipment and dinners.
The accuser, a 28-year-old Italian nationwide, has not been named by officers. Prosecutors say the defendants knew him personally.
Prosecutor Sarah Khan argued that somebody who helps the defendants was selectively leaking movies to current a counternarrative of the occasions.
“Victims of abuse are not always going to act the way that we expect them to,” Khan mentioned, including that prosecutors produce other images displaying the accuser being set on fireplace.
When prodded by the choose, she defined that he didn’t truly maintain any burn accidents as a result of the defendants would rapidly douse the flames, generally by urinating on him.
Prosecutors imagine this isn’t the primary time the defendants have held an individual in opposition to their will, she mentioned. They’re conscious of two different potential victims in two different areas.
Khan argued that holding the 2 males in custody “remains the only option” as a result of they’re each flight dangers. Their attorneys had sought their launch on $1 million bail and residential confinement with their dad and mom.
The 2 resist life in jail if convicted, she mentioned.
Duplessie, 32, and Woeltz, 37, appeared handcuffed in jail uniforms and did not converse in court docket aside from to formally enter their pleas. They face fees of kidnapping, assault, illegal imprisonment and prison possession of a weapon.
Prosecutors say on Could 6, the 2 males lured the sufferer to a townhouse in Manhattan’s posh SoHo neighborhood by threatening to kill his household.
The person mentioned the 2 traders tormented him with electrical wires, pressured him to smoke from a crack pipe and at one level dangled him from a staircase 5 tales excessive.
The person mentioned he finally agreed at hand over his pc password, then managed to flee as his captors went to retrieve the system.
Woeltz has described himself in interviews as a blockchain investor who hung out in Silicon Valley earlier than returning to Kentucky’s burgeoning crypto-mining business. Duplessie is listed as a founder or investor at numerous blockchain-based corporations.
New York Metropolis police are additionally investigating two detectives who labored safety on the townhouse the place the person says he was tortured.
The officers have been positioned on modified go away pending the result of the inquiry, though their lawyer has mentioned there’s no indication both officer witnessed any of the alleged prison exercise.
