Duplessie turned himself in to the NYPD Major Crimes Unit hours earlier -- becoming the second suspect in the alleged weeks-long abduction and torture of crypto investor Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan.
00:00It is the case that plays out. It sounds like it was written for a Hollywood movie.
00:06It's unbelievable.
00:07It's unbelievable.
00:08The crypto kidnapping and torture case in New York City just keeps unfolding.
00:16And there are more details this morning because we know you probably heard over the weekend about John Waltz is the guy who was arrested and accused of holding an Italian businessman hostage,
00:28holding him and torturing him for almost three weeks.
00:31Tasing him while his feet are in water, holding him over a balcony and saying,
00:36I'm going to drop you unless you give us the password to your crypto account so we can steal money from you.
00:42That's the allegation.
00:43And all of this going down in a very fancy townhome in Soho, New York City.
00:48$40,000 a month.
00:50Wow.
00:50And there are all sorts of things involved, nightclubs and drugs and all sorts of crazy things.
00:57Crazy stories.
00:58That's John Waltz in his robe as he was arrested.
01:01And then this morning, his business partner turned himself in.
01:07This is the video you're about to see is William DuPlessis turning himself in.
01:13He was police did not go and get him.
01:16He knew that they were looking for him and walked in with his lawyers to a New York City precinct to surrender.
01:23And we're not sure exactly what charges he's going to be facing.
01:26His arraignment has not happened yet.
01:27So he is in custody.
01:29But the details of this and why all of this happened, it is, as I said, cinematic.
01:36Yeah, this seems like a very sort of tried and true way in a very new technology, right?
01:42You have a crime of holding somebody captive in an effort to get their money, allegedly.
01:47And it's now about crypto, but it's no different than what, you know, I guess the mafia has been doing forever, right?
01:53Which is holding people against their will, trying to extort money out of them.
01:57But doesn't it seem, but Jason, doesn't it seem a little different that with a mafia, you're thinking of these thug guys who are, you know, deep into crime.
02:07This just feels.
02:08These guys don't look the part.
02:10Right.
02:10Right.
02:11What they want are passwords, right?
02:13They wanted this guy's passwords to his crypto account.
02:15They want money.
02:15Well, in which there was a hugely valuable millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency.
02:23But unlike real cash that can be traced potentially or other assets, crypto, once it is turned over, once those passwords are given over, it vanishes into the firmament.
02:32And so it really is a perfect crime if they could get the passwords out.
02:35But here, apparently, the guy escaped before they could get the information that would give them access to the coin.
02:40Also, I find really fascinating about the case is that both of these guys, John Waltz and William DePlessis, are known to be successful already.
02:49In fact, they are like influencers in the world of crypto.
02:54Charles, what does somebody who has $20 million want?
02:57Of course they want more.
02:58What do they want?
02:58They want more.
02:58They want more.
02:59But you don't expect them to get that more by doing what the police are alleging they did.
03:04That's not the picture.
03:05There are 27 cases recently which involve kidnapping, robbery.
