Crypto Business Partners Charged in Kidnapping and Torture of Former Partner in SoHo

Kidnapping and Torture in SoHo

• 🚨 Two individuals have been arrested and charged in connection with the kidnapping and torture of a former business partner.
• 💡 The victim, a 28-year-old man from Italy, was allegedly lured back to the U.S. by former partners under false pretenses to access his crypto account.
• ⛓️ He was held captive for over two weeks in a SoHo apartment, bound to a chair, with a gun to his head, as part of a sick, twisted extortion plot.

Alleged Torture Methods

• ⚡ Investigators report the victim was subjected to extreme torture, including being electrocuted and tased with his feet in water.
• 🔪 Threats were made to cut off his limbs with an electric chainsaw.
• 💰 The alleged perpetrators, described as "crypto bros," were seeking to extort millions in crypto from the victim.

Victim's Escape and Arrests

• 🏃 The victim managed to escape the SoHo brownstone on the day he was allegedly told it would be his death day.
• 🏥 He is currently receiving treatment at Bellevue Hospital.
• ⚖️ One suspect, John Waltz, faces charges including assault, kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, and criminal possession of a weapon.
• 🚓 Police are still searching for another alleged "crypto bro" and have arrested a woman in connection with the case.