A cryptocurrency investor has been arrested and charged with kidnapping a man and keeping him locked up for weeks in an upscale Manhattan flat, where authorities said he was beaten, shocked and led to believe that his family was in danger if he did not give up his bitcoin password.
John Woeltz, 37, was arrested on Friday night after the victim escaped from the eight-bedroom town house and flagged down a traffic officer on the street for help, according to prosecutors.
Woeltz was arraigned on Saturday on charges of kidnapping, assault, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a firearm, court records show. He was ordered held without bail, a spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney’s office confirmed on Saturday.
His lawyer, Wayne Gosnell, said on Saturday in an email that he had no comment.
The 28-year-old victim arrived in New York City from Italy in early May, a law enforcement official said. The official was not authorised to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation and did so on condition of anonymity.
It is not clear how or if the two knew each other, but the district attorney’s office said in an email that prosecutor Michael Mattson told a judge on Saturday that the victim, whose name has not been released, was abducted on May 6.
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