They kidnap and torture a young man for more than 15 days to get him to reveal the key to his Bitcoin.
A cryptocurrency investor has been charged in New York with kidnapping for more than two weeks, torturing, and threatening to kill a 28-year-old man from Italy in a luxury apartment in Manhattan to force him to reveal the key to his Bitcoin account.
The individual was identified by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office as J.W., 37 years old, from the state of Kentucky, who is accused of assault, unlawful detention, and possession of a weapon.
The victim reported to authorities that he arrived in the city from Italy on May 6 and had gone to the house rented by the alleged perpetrator. It has come to light that the cryptocurrency investor had been renting the eight-bedroom house for at least $30,000 a month.
According to the victim's report, when he arrived at the house, the arrested individual and a man who has not yet been apprehended stole his electronic devices and passport and demanded that he reveal his Bitcoin password to steal his cryptocurrency.
The Italian citizen also indicated that when he refused, they subjected him to weeks of torture, which included beating him, applying electric shocks, hitting him with a gun, and pointing a weapon at his head, and that they even threatened to kill his family.
The assailants, a man and woman, were arrested after the victim managed to escape and told what happened to a police officer he encountered on the street.
