Bitcoin early investor John Woeltz was arrested for allegedly kidnapping and extorting an Italian tourist.

On May 25, New York police arrested John Woeltz, a 37-year-old crypto investor, and a 24-year-old female accomplice in Lower Manhattan on suspicion of kidnapping and torturing an Italian tourist. According to the New York Post, citing sources, Woeltz imprisoned the victim in an upscale SoHo apartment for more than two weeks in an attempt to violently gain access to his financial accounts, which amounted to millions of dollars. Police found Polaroid photographs documenting abuse at the scene, including a photo of the victim being pointed at gunpoint. The victim was lured to his apartment on May 6 for an alleged business transaction, where he was subsequently kidnapped and abused, escaping with the claim that Woeltz planned to kill him. Woeltz has been involved in early Bitcoin investments and his GitHub account has been inactive since 2020. Woeltz was charged with second-degree assault, kidnapping, false imprisonment and unlawful possession of a firearm, and the female accomplice was charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment. (TheBlock)