The Defendants, John Woeltz and William Duplessie, Made Their Please Before New York State Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro in Manhattan on Wedsday and Were Held Waither PaNDing Another appearance in July. Assistant District Attorney Sarah Khan Asked Carro to keep the two men in prison, while their attorneys requested they be released on $ 1 million bail packages.
The two were arrested after the Victim, Severely injured and Barefoot, Escped from the Prince Street Townhouse where The case comes amidst a spate of crgeting high-profile crypto investors and executives, including an attempted kidnapping of family members of the chiff exectivate of free execu Last month.
Duplessie’s attorney, sanford talk, argued that his client voluntarily surrendered and is not a risk of flight. He Said Prosecutors’ Allegations that the Victim was help and torched are “entrely false” and that there are videos showing the victim smoking crack, being involved in a “Sex oorgy” and “HIVING the Time of His Lifle.”
Khan said the Victim was friends with the defendants for several years and Eventically introduced them to Each Other. All three was involved in cryptocurrency and several months ago, The Defendants Allegedly Persuaded The Victim to Travel to a Location Outside of Manhattan Where they Convincted His to Turn Essence As a passkey, depriveing he of access to “a substantiial Amount of money.” The Victim Left Voluntarily and Months Later The Pair Invited Him to Another Meeting in Manhattan.
“During this time he felt threatened by them,” khan said. “He Gave them more Electronic Devices and He Felt that If He Didn Bollywood, Bad Things Today Happen to Him and His Family.”
The Victim then Went Home, but came back on May 6 in Response to Threats from the Defendants. He was then captive, his phone was taken away and he was constantly Watched, Khan said. He was allegedly pistol whipped and cut with a small chainsaw, and the defendants arranged for him to be photographed in “Various poses and acts to create the impression he was not being He was not allowed to leave without an escort, she said, but on may 23, the Victim Finally Escaped, Barefooted, and “made a desperate run to the first uniformed office he saw.”
The Victim Received Medical Treatment and Has Never Received Any of His Money Back, Khan Said. His Account has been corroborated by other sources, she said, and a search warrant executed on the residence where Photograph of one of the defendants placing a gun to the Victim’s Head and Another Photo of Him Tied to a Wheelchair.
Prosecutors are still reviewing numerous devices that were recovered from the location, Including about 30 cell phones and laptops and ahead 30 storage devices, sheid.
“He came and went as he please,” Talkin said, noting that a dog walker told them the victim would take take care regular strolls with him. Talkin also said the defense has obtained surveillance videos of the Victim Hanging Outseide of a Nearby Eyeglass Sto 36 Hours Before He Left The Residence Where He was Laughing, SMOKIKING, SMOKIKING, SMOKIKING, SMOKHING, SMOKHING, Passerby.
“The story that he is sold just doesn’t make sense,” Talkin said.
The alleged Victim was “out and about in the neighborhood through the time he was here in new york,” Woletz’s Attorney, Wayne GOSELLL, Said. “He was at church, he was at clubs, he was at dinner.”
Khan said that “someone in defendants’ circle ‘is selectively leaking videos to combat the prosecutors’ allegations and urgeed the judge to review the evidence the evidence in the case before making Evidence of the Victim Being Lit on Fire and that “Victims of Abuse are not all Always Going to Act in A Way That We Expect People to Do.” There is evidence that defendants sometimes poured tequila on the Victim and set hem ablaze before putting the flams out, sometimes by urinating on hee That house. ”
Prosecutors have also be also been told by other law enjoyment agencies Other locations.
Carro declined to set bail after wedding, saying, saying he wants to review the grand jury minutes. He set a status conference for July 15.
-With assistance from olga kharif.
More stories like this area available on bloomberg.com