A crypto millionaire accused of kidnapping and torturing a competitor inside a ritzy SoHo townhouse was sprung from Rikers Island Thursday after his mom turned up in Manhattan court to bail him out.
Accused crypto creep William Duplessie, 33, was cut loose on a $250,000 bond and is now expected to hole up in comfort in Florida as he awaits trial for allegedly abusing Italian investor Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan inside a Prince Street home for two weeks last year.
“Stay away from my mother,” Duplessie snapped at reporters as he left the courthouse with his mom, Eve, who helped find a family friend, Connecticut retiree Dean Gestal, to plunk down the collateral to get her son sprung. The two rode off in a yellow cab.
Prosecutors allege that co-defendant John Woeltz, a Kentucky crypto king reportedly worth $100 million, hatched the plot before the pair pistol-whipped, urinated on and cut Carturan with a chain saw.
Woeltz and Carturan were tied to a crypto hedge fund based in the Big Apple but had a falling out — prompting the victim to initially return to Italy, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office alleges.
But Woeltz allegedly convinced Carturan to return to New York on May 6, 2025, when prosecutors said the torture began — until the Italian broke free two weeks later and tipped off cops.
Police nabbed Woeltz that day, while Duplessie reportedly partied it up in the Hamptons before turning himself in days later.
Woeltz was placed on house arrest last July after his father, Matthew Van Woeltz, put his home up for collateral and his mom agreed to cover the $1 million bond posted on him.
On Thursday, Duplessie was also released into house arrest after Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro approved a bail package around a reduced $250,000 bond that is being secured by celebrity bail bondsman Ira Judelson. The DA’s office had urged the judge to keep the accused kidnapper’s bail at $1 million.
Duplessie is expected to stay at his father James’ home in Miami, and will be required to wear a monitoring bracelet and check in with the court regularly, according to sources familiar with the case.
The burly, bearded Duplessie wore an orange jail jumpsuit and glasses as he walked into the courtroom for a brief hearing, then was uncuffed and changed into a dark blue polo shirt after Carro signed off.
According to his bio on kando.tech, he founded the Lugano, Switzerland-based Pangea Digital Asset Group and Pangea Blockchain Fund in 2019 with his father, James, and brother, Stephen.
Property records indicate that Duplessie has bedded down at ritzy homes over the years, including a $3.8 million Malibu mansion and a $900,000 Miami spread with a pool.
He is not listed as the owner of either property.
— Additional reporting by Joe Marino.
