The crypto bigwig accused of sadistically torturing an Italian businessman for his Bitcoin password left a trail of debt in his wake before landing in the Massive Apple – the place he grew to become identified in the club scene as a hard-partying massive spender, The Publish has realized.
William Duplessie, 33, owed a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars} on luxurious houses and vehicles in Florida and wracked up legal bother in Switzerland for allegedly beating his fiancée, in line with public data and law-enforcement sources.
However these authorized woes apparently didn’t decelerate Duplessie’s hedonistic way of life as soon as he began shacking up in a complicated SoHo townhouse with fellow crypto dealer John Woeltz, 37, someday after arriving in New York Metropolis in February, the sources mentioned.
“It’s a frat home for crypto bros,” one supply mentioned.
The hulking Duplessie grew to become a daily at stylish sizzling spots such because the The Field — an exclusive erotic nightclub the place images obtained by The Publish confirmed him partying shirtless — and sometimes roped socialites and fellow clubbers to his pad for events.
The glitzy façade got here crashing down Could 23, when a barefoot Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan — a 27-year-old crypto millionaire from Italy — ran from the Prince Road townhouse and instructed a site visitors cop that he had been held captive inside.
Carturan had been subjected to horrific tortures — together with being Tased whereas standing in water and minimize by a chainsaw — over practically three weeks in a bid to realize his Bitcoin password, prosecutors mentioned.
Woeltz, a seemingly mild-mannered Kentucky crypto king value $100 million, was shortly arrested and ordered held with out bail.
However Duplessie remained on the unfastened, allegedly partying it up in the Hamptons over the Memorial Day vacation weekend before he surrendered to cops Tuesday, in line with sources. He, too, is being held with out bail on prices that embody kidnapping and assault.
Many particulars concerning the wicked scheme stay unclear, as do sure specifics concerning the alleged sick suspects’ backgrounds.
However courtroom data from Miami, Florida, the place Duplessie hails from, define a spate of eye-watering debts he had allegedly racked up over extravagant purchases.
His former landlord sued him in 2023 for failing to pay $234,000 in lease and a safety deposit on a swanky, palm-shaded house in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood, a hub of crypto buyers the place peacocks stroll the streets.
The house was left in “a lot bodily disrepair,” the lawsuit famous.
Neighbor Sylvia Rayneri mentioned her daughter used to personal the house before promoting it to the owner who rented it to Duplessie.
She was shocked to listen to about its connection to the alleged torture case.
“I don’t keep in mind this man,” she mentioned Wednesday. “That’s so loopy. Principally it’s households who lease this place. I keep in mind in that yr typically listening to music, however nothing loopy.”
Duplessie confronted one other 2023 lawsuit for allegedly failing to make his $3,700-a-month lease funds on a 2018 Lamborghini Huracan — a flashy sports activities automobile with a price ticket beginning at $210,000.
The lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed inside days of submitting, data present.
A supply in Palm Seashore’s society scene mentioned Duplessie frolicked in the rich enclave throughout its peak winter season throughout February or March, “with the gorgeous younger set going to locations like Mary Lou’s and making an attempt to make enterprise contacts.”
One other supply mentioned they noticed each Duplessie and Woeltz at Mary Lou’s, a hip nightclub in West Palm Seashore.
“William (Duplessie) was wilder and the opposite man was quieter,” the supply mentioned.
Duplessie’s ambitions — and authorized troubles — apparently prolonged far exterior sunny Florida.
He has a possible legal conviction in Switzerland, the place he had based the Pangea Digital Asset Group and Pangea Blockchain Fund, prosecutors revealed throughout his arraignment.
Sources mentioned Duplessie had been accused of beating up his fiancée there.
A last Miami-Dade County lawsuit in opposition to Duplessie was filed in December by a motorist who contends the crypto massive crashed a Porsche into his automobile, injuring him.
The summons for Duplessie, nevertheless, couldn’t be served as a result of the courtroom didn’t have his newest tackle: 38 Prince Road.
Duplessie and Woeltz began exhibiting up in New York Metropolis’s wild club scene in February, sources mentioned.
A passerby exterior the Prince Road house — which law-enforcement sources mentioned was being rented out for between $30,000 and $40,000 a month — mentioned Duplessie was a daily at Gospël, a SoHo home music bastion.
“I’ve seen him drop $160,000,” the passerby mentioned.
One other supply mentioned Duplessie would spent $100,000 on tables at The Field and Rumour, an unique Meatpacking District club.
Throughout bleary late nights partying, Duplessie spun tales about working for the CIA, sources mentioned.
One social gathering picture depicting three bottles of Ace of Spades champagne — a model owned by Jay-Z — was taken in Nebula, a cavernous Midtown mega-club.
“They have been spending heaps and much of cash on Ace of Spades,” one supply mentioned. “We stored watching increasingly more bottles coming in such a short while. William was in pajamas.”
The indicators of decadent boozing might be seen — and heard — exterior the Prince Road townhouse.
Neighbors known as in three separate noise complaints about partying early April 5, 311 knowledge reveals.
A SoHo avenue vendor who known as himself “Dutch” mentioned he frequently noticed Woeltz cart plastic luggage full of empty liquor bottles to the sidewalk.
“I’m speaking perhaps 50, 60 bottles — wine, vodka,” Dutch mentioned. “Massive bottles in plastic luggage on the sidewalk.
“I’d look by the rubbish, as a result of I do know they have been rich. There (was) meals, however not as a lot as liquor bottles.”
The pair’s glamorous assistant Beatrice Folchi, 24, had been a bottle woman at The Field, sources mentioned. Folchi had been arrested after Carturan’s escape, however Manhattan district lawyer’s officers declined to prosecute pending additional investigation.
When reached by The Publish Wednesday at her Chelsea tackle, Folchi solely repeated, “I can’t discuss.”
— Further reporting by Desheania Andrews
