🔍 The $30M Soho case: from “crypto party” to coerced cold wallet
📍 Over 17 days (06–23/05/2025) at 38 Prince St (Manhattan), Michael Carturan was lured to a “crypto party,” then had his passport/phone seized, was AirTag-tracked, and forced to surrender wallet keys. Evidence on site: blood, plastic sheeting, saw, goggles, bucket; Polaroids and a 15/05 video show saw/gun threats, cattle-prod shocks, and small burns. He escaped on 23/05.
🧩 Pattern: prosecutors cite an earlier 01/2025 Kentucky incident involving fiancée Kayla Barbour; filings also name German CEO Michael Mauer. The CIA/MKUltra story is viewed as an intimidation/recruitment cover, not fact.
💰 Playbook: 2018–2020, William Duplessie ran Pangea in Switzerland, using “honeypot” events to raise >$100M (~$2M from Roger Ver), then left Switzerland amid investor complaints. Name-dropping “intel ties” → FOMO → coercion. Brock Pierce’s link is a brief 2017 job at DNA; no evidence of involvement.
⚖️ Status: John Woeltz posted $1M bail (07/2025); Duplessie remains in custody. Both plead not guilty. Next court date: 15/10/2025.
📉 Market: idiosyncratic case; direct price impact low (1–2/10) but symbolically highlights the $5-wrench risk as digital wealth becomes public.
🔐 Security takeaways (lean)
1 - Reduce social exposure: don’t flaunt holdings; treat event invites cautiously; avoid going alone.
2 - Custody architecture: split-location multi-sig; isolated cold storage; time-locked limits; duress wallet.
3 - Emergency plan: independent comms device; safety signal; never store seeds at temporary lodging.
👀 Watch: evidentiary updates on 15/10/2025; potential new victims or civil suits tied to Pangea; possible policy moves on investor protection against coercion.