The second suspect in the alleged kidnapping and torture of an Italian bitcoin dealer inside a SoHo townhouse was seen scowling as he was remanded without bail in court Tuesday night.
After he partied it up in the Hamptons over the weekend, William Duplessie appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court, where his lawyer claimed the 33-year-old crypto trader’s criminal case will “begin to unravel” when more details come out.
“The facts here are hotly disputed, his involvement is hotly disputed,” attorney Sanford Talkin claimed to Judge Julieta Lozano during his nighttime arraignment hearing.
Duplessie, who sported a frown at the hearing, is facing charges of kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, assault and weapons possession, just hours after turning himself in to police at the 13th Precinct stationhouse in Manhattan.
Duplessie was sought in the horrific torture of Italian bitcoin millionaire Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan, who was allegedly held captive in the posh townhouse.
Kentucky crypto king John Woeltz has already been charged in the explosive case.
Talkin asked the judge to release Duplessie on $1 million bail, claiming he would not flee the Big Apple. He also said his client would live with his father — who attended the hearing and waved to his son from the spectator benches — and was willing to wear an ankle monitor.
“If he was a risk of flight, he wouldn’t have gotten an attorney,” Talkin told the judge. “He would’ve been out of here.”
But Lozano disagreed, stating that “remand was necessary to ensure he return to court.” She also ordered him to surrender his passport and issued an order of protection for the victim.
Duplessie’s next court date is Friday.
Both Assistant District Attorney Amanda Blott and the judge referenced a criminal case against Duplessie in Switzerland, though more details were not revealed.
Duplessie and Woeltz allegedly tormented Carturan as they tried to pry his bitcoin password from him to obtain millions of dollars.
Duplessie, who co-founded a Swiss-based Pagea Blockchain Fund with his brother, has previously shacked up at a $3.8 million Malibu mansion and a Miami property valued at nearly $900,000.
Woeltz, whose net worth is over $100 million, was arraigned on the same charges Saturday and is being held without bail at Rikers Island.
Law enforcement sources said Carturan was lured to the townhouse on May 6 and held captive until Friday, when he managed to break free.
He was allegedly tied to a chair, pistol-whipped, dangled from the top of a staircase, urinated on and had his arms and legs cut with a chainsaw during the torture.
Dramatic video showed Carturan, shoeless and battered, rush up to an NYPD traffic cop for help after fleeing his captors.
With Woeltz in custody, police focused on Duplessie as a person of interest in the case – and he finally turned himself in after lounging in the Hamptons over Memorial Day weekend, according to the sources.
Woeltz and Carturan allegedly had stakes in a New York City crypto hedge fund but had a falling out.
Meanwhile, Woeltz’s assistant, 24-year-old Beatrice Folchi, was arrested in the torture plot but was released after the Manhattan DA’s office declined to file charges pending further investigation.
Additional reporting by Ben Kochman.
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