This week, the gathering storm of a disturbing new criminal typology, crypto kidnappings, carried on gaining momentum, spreading to New York, Las Vegas, and Uganda.
In New York, a Kentucky crypto entrepreneur is charged with kidnapping and torturing an Italian visitor in an upmarket Manhattan mansion for over three weeks, trying to force the victim to divulge his Bitcoin password.
Meanwhile, three Florida teenagers have been charged with abducting a crypto event host from Las Vegas at gunpoint. They allegedly drove him deep into Nevada’s Mojave Desert, extracted $4 million in digital assets from him after threatening his family, and abandoned him there.
Lastly, in Kampala, Uganda, criminals impersonating soldiers abducted the head of a crypto education hub. They forced him at gunpoint to transfer $500,000 from his crypto accounts into theirs before releasing him.
Find out more about each of these stories below.
Crypto investor charged with crypto kidnapping plot in New York
On Saturday, May 24, 2025, a Manhattan criminal court charged crypto investor John Woeltz of Kentucky with abducting an Italian visitor, holding him against his will in a $30,000 per month rented SoHo home, and torturing him to extract his Bitcoin password over three weeks during May. Woeltz’s suspected accomplice, William Du Plessis, surrendered to police on Tuesday, May 27.
According to the alleged abductee, he arrived in the US on May 6 and was at once abducted by Woeltz, who stole his devices and demanded the password for his Bitcoin wallet to steal cryptocurrency.
When the victim refused, the three-week ordeal began. Woeltz and Du Plessis allegedly beat, pistol-whipped, and shocked him with electric wires, then threatened to shoot him and kill his family. The abductee further claimed the two accused dangled him over the banister of a stairwell at the top of the luxury five-storey home, forced him to smoke crack-cocaine and cut his leg with a saw.
The victim escaped on Friday, May 23, by duping the suspects into thinking he had agreed to surrender his password, stored on his laptop in another room. When they were distracted, he fled the building and waved down a police officer.
Woeltz was arrested on the spot. Police found torture devices consistent with the victim’s injuries and Polaroid photographs that supported his claims in the home. Woeltz was refused bail as he is wealthy and owns a private jet, making him a flight risk. It is unclear if and how the suspects and the victim knew each other.
Why this matters:
This story illustrates the risks the crypto industry increasingly faces: the lack of consumer protection, irreversible transactions that can be untraceable, and a growing criminal interest in exploiting crypto wealth through violence represent a trend that the whole industry will have to work together on to overcome.
Learn more about this story at CNN, updated here.
Florida Teens Charged in Las Vegas Crypto Kidnapping of Event Host
Three Florida teenagers have been charged with kidnapping, robbery, and extortion after allegedly abducting a man from downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, and stealing $4 million in cryptocurrency and NFTs from him in November 2024.
The victim was ambushed at gunpoint after hosting a crypto event and driven 70 miles to a remote area of the Mojave Desert, where they threatened to kill his father, whom they claimed to have abducted, unless he revealed his digital wallet credentials.
After stealing $4 million in crypto and other digital assets, the kidnappers left him stranded in the desert. The victim managed to walk five miles to a gas station and raised the alarm. Surveillance footage and a later traffic stop in Mississippi helped law enforcement identify and connect the suspects to the crime.
Authorities were then able to link a firearm shown on social media to one teen’s family and confirmed all three suspects had ties to the same Florida high school. 16-year-olds Belal Ashraf and Austin Fletcher were arrested and charged as adults, while the third suspect remains unnamed. Fletcher is held on $4 million bail, equivalent to the amount in stolen cryptocurrency, while Ashraf awaits release under electronic monitoring. The FBI continues to assist state authorities with the investigation.
Why this matters:
This case highlights a growing concern in the crypto industry: the need to address digital security and physical safety, particularly for high-profile individuals involved in public-facing crypto events. As cryptocurrency continues to gain mainstream traction, incidents like this underscore the vulnerability of investors and entrepreneurs to real-world threats and the importance of adopting secure custody practices. It also shows the urgent need for stronger technological and physical protective measures to safeguard digital assets and those who manage them.
Learn more about this story at Yahoo.com.
Crypto kidnapping victim in Uganda paid $500K to abductors to secure his release
Criminals impersonating members of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) abducted Festo Ivaibi, the founder and leader of the Ugandan crypto education hub, Mitroplus Labs, near his home in the nation’s capital, Kampala, on May 17, 2025. Armed and wearing UPDF uniforms, the abductors forced Mr. Ivaibi to access several crypto wallets and transfer $500,000 into a wallet that they controlled to secure his release.
Mitroplus Labs released a statement on May 19 expressing relief that Mr. Festo was now safe and referred to the incident as “not just an attack on one person, it’s an attack on a growing vision.” The company noted that several Afro Tokens were also sold during the abduction and lost 16.7% of their value in the following days.
Mitroplus Labs said that there have now been at least 48 crypto-related abductions in Uganda. It contends that the kidnappings are a coordinated criminal enterprise involving corrupt law enforcement agents and security operatives, “informants”, and a pair of Chinese nationals.
Why this matters:
This disturbing story adds the vivid term “wrench attack”- so-named because it evokes the visceral image of wallets being physically ‘wrenched’ open- to the crypto industry vocabulary. At the same time, Harry Halpin of the DeFi VPN service, Nym, said that governments demanding greater transparency and enhanced KYC processes can risk enabling criminals to gain easier access to crypto owners’ information, making them more vulnerable. Regulators and exchanges will have to balance the requirements of securing financial frameworks and protecting customer data in the future to counter this growing threat.
Learn more about this story at Decrypt.
