Shocking CCTV footage has revealed the moment a crypto millionaire who said he was ‘tortured’ managed to escape his captors.
The video, obtained by NBC New York, shows a disheveled, shoeless, and distressed man running up to a NYPD traffic cop on Friday (May 23) to plead for help.
The 28-year-old man, identified as Italian bitcoin trader and millionaire, Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan, claimed he had been held captive and tortured in a New York City townhouse in Prince Street.
He alleged he was tied to a chair with electrical wire, tased while his feet were in water, threatened, pistol-whipped, had his limbs cut with a chainsaw, urinated on, forced to take drugs, and tracked with an Apple AirTag tied around his neck during the weeks-long ordeal.
Carturan said he was a target for two businessmen who demanded his Bitcoin password while being held captive in the swanky Soho home and only managed to escape when he tricked his captor.
Law enforcement have since described the almost three-week-long incident as a mash-up of The Wolf of Wall Street meets American Psycho, reports the New York Post.
Cops have since charged Kentucky native John Woeltz with kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, assault and weapons possession in connection with the case, the news outlet adds, where he faces 15 to 25 years in prison if convicted.
Woeltz, a crypto king himself, reportedly launched his assault on the tourist from the eight-bed $100 million pad.
Woeltz faces a litany of accusations, including threatening the victim and his family in Italy.
Woeltz faces a slew of charges in connection with the incident (TODAY/YouTube)
Assistant District Attorney Michael Mattson further claimed he had ‘carried the victim to the top flight of the stairs of the apartment in the compound and hung the victim over the ledge,’ all apparently while threatening to ‘kill’ him if he didn’t hand over his Bitcoin password.
Carturan, from Turin, Italy, who is reportedly worth $30 million, had told his family he was travelling to the US ‘for a trip of tourism and language learning’ but had his passport and devices confiscated by his captors when he met them.
Cops have uncovered horrifying items from the ‘house of horrors’ (TODAY/YouTube)
He only managed to escape when he said he told Woeltz he would surrender his password by plugging it into his laptop.
When the accused turned his back to get the computer, Carturan made a run for it to the street and fortunately came across the traffic cop.
Meanwhile, Woeltz reportedly owns 150 acres of land in Kentucky as well as his own private jet and helicopter, according to authorities, who requested he was held without bail.
During his appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court on Saturday, the 37-year-old only muttered a quiet ‘yes’ when Judge Eric Schumacher asked if he had a gun.
He has been charged in the alleged torture plot (ABC News)
Authorities have since raided the luxurious pad, with one describing it as a ‘crypto commune’ with stripper poles, cases of Crista,l and polaroid pictures of the victim, bound up with a gun pointed at him and being forced to smoke crack cocaine from a pipe.
Officers believe the images were intended to be used to extort money.
Other suspicious items like night vision goggles, a firearm and ammunition in the ‘torture chamber’, chicken wire, and a saw were also uncovered in the raid.
Also this week on Tuesday (May 27), a Bitcoin trader, William Duplessie, surrendered himself to police for questioning after being identified as a person of interest.
Woeltz’ assistant, Beatrice Folchi, was initially held on kidnapping charges but let go after the district attorney declined to prosecute, pending further investigation.
Video footage shows the moment a light aircraft crashed into the ground and exploded, sending a house up in flames.
The crash occurred in the Fairview residential neighbourhood, according to a report from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s office.
In the footage smoke can be seen pouring from houses after the twin-engine aircraft fell from the sky.
The area was also hit by a power outage affecting thousands of people in the area as a result of the crash.
Scott Lewis, the Gresham Fire Chief, said that five units in the neighbourhood had been affected by the fire and that four families would be likely to be displaced.
While injuries and possible fatalities have not yet been confirmed, the sheriff’s office has said that initial reports suggested that three people are missing.
Of these two were reported as being on the plane, while the third is a resident who was reported missing after the crash.
Authorities have confirmed that there have been injuries but are still unsure if there have been any fatalities.
Firefighters attend to the blaze in a property affected by the crash (John Sampson / Facebook)
John Plock, a public information officer from Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, told a news conference on Saturday: “I know that there, there are injuries, I don’t know how many, I don’t know how severe, and I don’t know about fatalities.”
Plock confirmed that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will conduct an investigation into the crash.
The officer also added that the aircraft had struck a tower holding up power cables.
“At some point during the crash, it hit a power pole or tower, causing it to fall over,” said Plock.
This fire did not spread as it started in a swampy area.
Plumes of smoke rise into the sky after the crash (X / Wh_So_Serious)
A statement from the FAA said: “A twin-engine Cessna 421C crashed near Troutdale Airport in Oregon around 10:30 a.m. local time on Saturday, Aug. 31.
“We do not yet know how many people were on board. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide any updates.”
A representative from Portland General Electric (PGE) said that approximately 9,000 customers in the area were affected by the power outage.
They said in a statement: “PGE crews are onsite assessing damage to our lines and will communicate with customers when we know more about the extent of damage and restoration timeline.”
PGE confirmed that power has been restored to most residents in the affected area.
A relative of the family-of-five who tragically died when the helicopter they were riding in crashed into the Hudson River, New York, has issued a heartbreaking statement.
At around 3.15pm Eastern Time on Thursday (April 10), a sightseeing chopper operated by former Navy SEAL veteran Sean Johnson crashed shortly after he radioed in to his colleagues at New York Helicopters to explain that the aircraft needed fuel.
Siemens executive Agustín Escobar, of Barcelona, Spain, his wife Merce Camprubi Montal, and their three children aged 11, five and four, were onboard, alongside pilot Johnson when the chopper ‘split in two’, with none surviving the ordeal.
Now, Montal’s brother visited New York City to lay a wreath down near the crash site, with Jersey City, New Jersey, mayor Steven Fulop confirming that he had flown in to New York on Friday to identify his sister’s body, and that of her family members.
Joan Camprubí Montal spoke during a press conference in his native tongue, listing all five of their names before adding: “We will never forget you.
“We will keep your smile alive every day of our lives, and I believe that’s the best legacy we can give you.”
Merce Camprubi Montal, Agustín Escobar and their family tragically died in the crash (New York Helicopter Tours LLC)
Michael Roth, who owns the chopper, explained a conversation his team had with Johnson before the incident took place.
The 71-year-old told The Telegraph: “He [the pilot] called in that he was landing and that he needed fuel, and it should have taken him about three minutes to arrive, but 20 minutes later, he didn’t arrive.”
While an eye witness named Max spoke to ABC News about the crash, explaining that he heard the tragedy unfold, before seeing the aftermath.
He said: “It sounded like a sonic boom so I look up and literally I saw helicopter splitting in 2, with the rotor flying off in the sky it was going so fast and it just went straight into the water.
“Nothing came up afterwards it must have just sunk and that was it, and then I just waited here and like five minutes later we started seeing the police and stuff come.
Police and firefighters work on the site after the chopper crashed into the Hudson River near lower Manhattan, on Thursday (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.”
He continued: “For me I just thought it was going to be like city noise, like a crash or like maybe like a jet going overhead – I know that’s probably not common.
“But yeah, just like a big bang on my right and then like a whoop whoop [making a helicopter noise] as you see the propeller like flying off like up way higher than the the helicopter and just land straight in the water.
“I’m not like [sure], maybe the tail separated? But I think definitely the rotor separated and the body went straight into the water, so some something must have happened with the rotor and it just flipped right off.”
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident.
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As tensions between world leaders rise and talk of World War III intensifies, a video has been created to demonstrate just how disastrous nuclear war could be.
YouTuber Zack D. Films has created a shocking simulation that details exactly what would happen if the biggest nuclear bomb ever created was dropped on New York City.
The world’s largest nuclear explosion ever took place in 1961, that of course was the Russian hydrogen bomb called the ”Tsar Bomba’, or as the western world knows it – the ‘Tsar Bomb’.
All-Russia Exhibition Centre in Moscow displaying the Tsar Bomba (TATYANA MAKEYEVA / AFP) (Photo by TATYANA MAKEYEVA/AFP via Getty Images)
But it wasn’t until almost 60 years later that footage was released of the huge blast.
Dubbed the ‘King of Bombs’, the Tsar Bomb was developed between 1956 and 1961, while the Soviet Union was in the middle of an nuclear arms race with the US.
It was said to be 3,300 times as destructive as the bomb that devastated Hiroshima, made up of a hydrogen bomb with 50 megatons – or 50 million tons – of explosives.
When it was tested in October 1961, the Tsar Bomb released a mushroom cloud that was 60km high.
Now, the popular content creator Zack and his team put together a short video to explain how it would look if the Russians wanted to drop the bomb on the US‘ most populous city. Take a look:
“If the world’s biggest nuclear bomb landed in New York City, the 50 megaton explosion would instantly vaporize everything within a two mile radius,” the video says.
“The blast wave would flatten buildings up to 20 miles away, turning skyscrapers into rubble, and a fireball over five miles wide would ignite everything in its path.
“The shock wave would shatter windows as far as New Jersey and the mushroom cloud would rise 40 miles into the air.
“Radiation would contaminate the area for decades, leaving no survivors in.”
Let’s hope Putin and Trump agree to never press the big red button! (Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)
Let’s hope Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump don’t get into a war that leads to one of the two pressing the big red button…
But to know what New York would be up against, let’s detail a little more on the Tsar Bomb.
During the test in 1961, the Soviet Union stationed cameras on the ground and on board two Russian aircrafts which caught the moment the bomb caused a huge fireball in the sky.
“The testing of an exceptionally powerful hydrogen load … confirmed that the Soviet Union is in possession of a thermo-nuclear weapon with power of 50 megatons, 100 megatons and more,” said a narrator over footage of the test which was released in 2021.
Haley Joel Osment was recently arrested at a ski resort.
Osment, best known for starring in films like The Sixth Sense, Pay it Forward, Forrest Gump and, most recently, Blink Twice, was at a ski lodge in Mammoth Lakes, California, when he was taken into custody by local law enforcement on April 8.
He has since been charged with two misdemeanors, the Office of the District Attorney County of Mono announced yesterday (April 17).
It said in a statement: “District Attorney David Anderson announced that Haley Joel Osment, 37, was charged today with two misdemeanors arising from his arrest by the Mammoth Lakes Police Department at Mammoth Mountain on April 8, 2025.
“Specifically, Mr. Osment was charged with a violation of Penal Code Section 647(f) – Disorderly Conduct: Under the Influence of Alcohol in Public, and Health and Safety Code Section 11350(a) – Possession of Cocaine.”
Actor Haley Joel Osment was arrested on April 8 (Amanda Edwards/WireImage)
The actor is due to be arraigned on July 7 of this year at the Mammoth Lakes branch of the Mono County Superior Court.
Bodycam footage taken on the day of Osment’s arrest has since been released, showing officers telling the 37-year-old he was under arrest for public intoxication.
“I’m not fighting you,” Osment said as he was ushered towards the police car.
Officers then found a $20 bill with a substance inside it. A police source previously told PEOPLE the ‘controlled substance’ Osment was arrested for ‘is presumed to be cocaine’.
“We sent it for testing. We will have the results soon,” they added.
Fast forward to footage taken when Osment was in the back of the police car and being taken to the station, he said he was being ‘kidnapped by a f**king Nazi’ – a slur he’s since apologized for.
In a statement issued to PEOPLE, the actor said the language that he used was ‘disgraceful’.
“I’m absolutely horrified by my behavior,” Osment said. “Had I known I used this disgraceful language in the throes of a blackout, I would have spoken up sooner.”
He added: “The past few months of loss and displacement have broken me down to a very low emotional place.”
Osment has since apologized for his behavior (Paul Archuleta/Getty Images)
Osment lost his home in the wildfires that ravaged parts of California at the beginning of the year, alongside dozens of other celebrities.
“But that’s no excuse for using this disgusting word,” he went on. “From the bottom of my heart, I apologize to absolutely everyone that this hurts. What came out of my mouth was nonsensical garbage – I’ve let the Jewish community down and it devastates me.
“I don’t ask for anyone’s forgiveness, but I promise to atone for my terrible mistake.”
Featured Image Credit: Mammoth Lakes Police Department
