In the latest crypto-inducing case, a man named John Victor Waltz was arrested on Friday (May 23) and accused of luring an unknown Italian man in New York and tortured him for several weeks to access the man’s Bitcoin.
Woeltz and another unnamed individual are said to have taken Italian tourists hostage for two weeks inside their Manhattan home.
🇺🇸 Crypto investors spin the torture kingpin on a horror pad in New York
The Kentucky code brothers reportedly turned SoHo rentals, which cost $40,000 a month, into a full-fledged torture chamber to drive millions out of Italian tourists.
Police say John Watts tied up a man for two weeks and electrocuted him… pic.twitter.com/55pzim3g3g
– Navy Navy (Meral) May 24, 2025
John Victor Wertz was arrested the same day, and the victim of the code-tooker managed to escape
John Victor Watts, 37, was taken into custody on Friday (May 23) but the victim was able to escape Manhattan’s property.
Woeltz was arrested Saturday for each of the second-degree attacks, tricks, illegal imprisonment and criminal possession of a firearm, according to court records.
Sources close to the survey say Woeltz, tourists and an unknown third individual have been in business together for years. Police are looking for a third business partner who has not yet been publicly identified.
Waltz’s lawyer declined to comment on Saturday. The judge granted a request to detain Woeltz during his arrest on Saturday. His next court date is Wednesday.
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Italian man is said to have been tortured for holding for 17 days for a Bitcoin password, but it did not break
(sauce))
The tourist, a 28-year-old man visiting from Italy, met the accused temptation on May 6, sources said. On the same date, Woeltz allegedly took Italians to a home he had rented in Norita, a luxury neighborhood in New York’s Manhattan area.
According to criminal charges filed in New York, Woeltz and an unidentified “unsolicited man” lured the victim, taking electronic devices and passports, and tortured him until he escaped 17 days later.
The pair were trying to get the victim to hand over access to his Bitcoin portfolio, but when he refused, they beat him, shocked him with an electric wire and slam him in the head with a gun.
Woeltz and his third business partner are said to have repeatedly aimed for a gun on the victim’s head, hanging him on the stairs of the best staircase, threatening to kill him if he didn’t reveal his password.
Sources close to the incident also alleged that the temptator urinated the victim and placed an apple air tag around Italy’s neck to prevent him from running away.
Details have not been announced yet about how the victim escaped on Friday. However, upon his escape, the Italian ran to a road traffic officer who called the police to Norita’s house, where John Victor Waltz was later arrested.
Of the various types of cryptocurrency invitations, there is little information about what has spurred business relations to become so violent.
This time, the next crypto-related invitation in Europe in Paris, France, was when three men tried to lure the daughter of the CEO of the Crypto Platform. pic.twitter.com/l6mbcdit4q
– CR1337 (@cryptonator1337) May 13, 2025
When digging into Woeltz’s background, Crypto-Tech’s motivation is surprising. Sources say the alleged temptation suspect is a prominent Kentucky crypto trader and is estimated to be worth $100 million north.
Meanwhile, the same source claims that Italian victims have a net worth of around $30 million. Due to the trio’s long-standing business relationship, there may be several reasons why Woeltz and his accomplices viciously torture the victims for his Bitcoin password.
Sources reportedly said Woeltz had rented a Prince Street residence at an interest rate of between $30,000 and $40,000 a month. The online listing of the house says it was last rented in March for $75,000.
Whether the business deal was wrong or simply pure greed, it gets hot right after a splate of crypto-related temptations in France and elsewhere.
Earlier this year, Ledger, co-founder of Crypto Hard Wallet Firm, was invited along with his wife in a ransom attempt. David Barlands had his fingers cut during the ordeal before French special forces carried out a successful rescue operation.
Then again, just a few weeks ago, the daughter and granddaughter of a French code exchange owner were victims of an attempted daytime temptation on the streets of Paris.
Luckily, the daughter’s husband fought the attackers before public members could intervene, and the criminals were forced to abandon the plot.
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