New York City police have arrested two suspects in connection with the kidnapping and torture of an Italian tourist, reportedly in an attempt to extort the man into handing over access to his financial accounts, according to multiple local media reports.
John Woeltz, a 37-year-old man, and a 24-year-old suspected female accomplice were arrested on Friday after the Italian tourist escaped his confinement in an upscale SoHo apartment and contacted the police. The tourist had reportedly gone to the apartment under the guise of a business deal on May 6, before being captured and subsequently beaten and tortured by Woeltz in an attempt to gain access to “millions of dollars,” the New York Post reported, citing sources familiar.
Police reportedly found Polaroid photos at the scene documenting the abuse, including one showing a gun being pointed at the tourist’s head. The Italian man escaped shortly before he thought Woeltz planned to kill him, the New York Post report states.
Woeltz, reportedly an early adopter of Bitcoin since 2011, joined the development team of HCash (later HyperCash) in 2017, according to a contemporaneous announcement on Medium, and later joined privacy-preserving cryptocurrency Grin’s core team after setting up its first security audit. Woeltz’s GitHub account has been seemingly inactive since 2020.
“For Grin, loss of privacy is unacceptable, can lead to physical harm of user,” a copy of Woeltz’s slides from a presentation about the audit states.
Woltz was charged with two counts of second-degree assault, and one count each of first-degree kidnapping, first-degree unlawful imprisonment, and criminal possession of a firearm, according to CBS News. His younger accomplice was reportedly charged with first-degree kidnapping and first-degree unlawful imprisonment.
The arrests come amid a notable rise in violent crime targeting the crypto-wealthy, including several kidnappings and extortion attempts in France, the U.K., and Las Vegas, among others.
© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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