Two crypto bros charged with kidnapping and torturing an Italian millionaire so he would give them his cryptocurrency password were accused of holding another European tourist hostage at their Kentucky compound, according to a report.
William Duplessie, 33, and John Woeltz, 37, took a group of models and other high fliers from Palm Beach, Florida, to the tiny Kentucky hamlet of Smithland back in February, where they engaged in a drug and gun-fueled party weekend at their sprawling $1.5 million mansion, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Guests — whom Duplessie and Woeltz were trying to ingratiate themselves to — told the newspaper that the pair bragged they had kidnapped a German man, stole his cryptocurrency and killed him. The guests said they didn’t know what to believe about the tale.
John Woeltz, 37, and William Duplessie, 33, pleaded not guilty to kidnapping. Steven Hirsch
But, according to local 911 call recordings, just a week earlier a German-speaking woman reported that her son had been kidnapped, the Journal reported.
The incident began when a Holiday Inn clerk in nearby Paducah called 911 after the guest shared disturbing text messages from her son who she said was visiting the US from Switzerland.
“In English, it’s saying, ‘They don’t want to let me go, bitcoin,’” the clerk told police after running the texts through a phone translator, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
“‘Need help, they are armed to the brim,’” the messages concluded.
Michael Mauer had gone to see a friend in Smithland named John, his mother told the hotel clerk, giving the address of a street where Woeltz owned a smaller house.
Mauer and Woeltz had worked together on a crypto project called Grin Coin in 2020, the Journal reported.
Cops had reported a number of issues at the property since Duplessie and Woeltz had bought their home in Livingston County in January this year, according to 911 recordings.
Not long after, Mauer called his mother to say he had been released, and was picked up by a police officer in Smithland.
Attorneys to Duplessie and Woeltz didn’t respond to requests for comment Sunday. Mauer couldn’t be reached for comment.
At the Kentucky party, Duplessie and Woeltz flew wealthy heirs, fashion models, and hangers-on from Florida to Smithland, around 135 miles southwest of Louisville, on a private jet stuffed with caviar and booze — reportedly luring their guests out with the possibility of a lucrative crypto investment opportunities.
But once they had reached the pair’s six-bedroom black marble floored mansion in Smithland the trip reportedly took a dark turn, as the paranoid hosts, who were high on cocaine, claimed to their guests that they had met working with US intelligence services on crypto-related missions, hunting terrorists.
The pair were initially arrested on May 23rd, but are now granted a $1M bail that cannot be paid in Bitcoin, according to SC Justice Gregory Carro. Kevin C Downs forThe New York Post
NYPD Crime Scene investigators searched the house thoroughly after Carretan escaped. James Keivom
Defense lawyers claim the pair were just hazing the alleged victim. Steven Hirsch
Duplessie, who had harbored hopes of a career in politics, and even had the Kentucky state seal tattooed on his chest during February’s bacchanal, is accused, along with Woeltz, of kidnapping 28-year-old Italian national Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan and torturing him at a fancy SoHo townhouse in May this year.
The two men were granted $1 million bail last month. Both have pleaded not guilty to kidnapping charges and say the charges are the result of a misunderstanding.
They claim that Carturan was never a hostage but was a willing participant in a debauched party.
