"The victim told the police Woeltz and the other man beat him, shocked him, hit him with a gun and pointed it at his head, and dangled him from the top of the five-story home, threatening to kill him. They also cut his leg with a saw, he said, threatened to kill his family and forced him to smoke crack cocaine, the New York Daily News reported."
>Woeltz and two accomplices allegedly detained and tortured the 28-year-old man in the home Woeltz had been renting for roughly $30,000 a month. The alleged victim told the police he arrived in the US on 6 May, when he was kidnapped by Woeltz.
I feel like Woeltz would have been better off simply finding a cheaper apartment. Every month he doesnt live in NY he is up 30k?
Yesterday I saw a tiktok influencer ad for an new app that professes to be the uber of protective services (bodyguards) - also more and more high net worth individuals in my tech/finance networks are traveling to public events/meetups etc with security. I hope these things need not become trends.
I don't think it is common, plenty of rich folks out there who do just fine.
We just hear about the bad ones.
I grew up in a smaller town in the midwest. There were some neighbors, bunch of old guy friends living in post WWII era baby boomer houses just down a few blocks. Nice guys, they were small town attorneys, politicians, small businessmen who ran some very humble businesses, and etc. They all drove 10 year old basic cars, golfed together on men's night, mowed their own lawns until they couldn't anymore.
It wasn't until I was older that I realized that they were all on the board of a local community bank that they started long ago. Over the years the bank grew, absorbed other banks.
Everyone of them was worth somewhere in the dozens of millions of dollars.
In the US, there are 800 billionaires. There are 5.5 million people that millionaires by liquid assets alone, and at least another 17 million by net value from things like retirement accounts or home value.
Odds are pretty decent you know one of them, or know someone who does, and probably don't even realize it.
I think it's because there's nothing left to do except amass more money and power. Like most billionaires can do whatever they want, but they keep working, or are in the public eye. Why?
This tragic, horrifying, and truly disgusting story is now going to be my go-to whenever I have to rebut all those people on HN who insist that if the perpetrator successfully acquired the bitcoin, 1) he in no way "stole" it, 2) he morally and legally owns it now, 3) his other actions don't forfeit his title of ownership, 4) any attempt by an authority to recover the bitcoin is unjust, and 5) the Ledger is the infallible source of Truth and, thence, Morality.
The guy is worth $100m and torturing someone for their holdings... seems like there is a lot more to this story than what is being reported.
maybe the first 100m was also from torture/killing for passwords.
so, its just a habit now..
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Makes you wonder if the story being reported is true, it sounds a bit bizarre and almost like some sort of an experiment.
Good thing Coinbase just leaked their customer PII so this can become a common story.
Good thing the govt requires KYC to make these things possible.
Good thing I never got involved in this crypto shit.
Imagine if this had anything at all to do with the story in the article, where the victim and perpetrator already knew each other.
"The victim told the police Woeltz and the other man beat him, shocked him, hit him with a gun and pointed it at his head, and dangled him from the top of the five-story home, threatening to kill him. They also cut his leg with a saw, he said, threatened to kill his family and forced him to smoke crack cocaine, the New York Daily News reported."
That's not a fun experience.
From the guardian
>Woeltz and two accomplices allegedly detained and tortured the 28-year-old man in the home Woeltz had been renting for roughly $30,000 a month. The alleged victim told the police he arrived in the US on 6 May, when he was kidnapped by Woeltz.
I feel like Woeltz would have been better off simply finding a cheaper apartment. Every month he doesnt live in NY he is up 30k?
Not doing much to break the stereotypes
about crypto or people from kentucky?
About Americans
> Law enforcement sources said they turned up multiple Polaroid pictures of the victim being tied up and tortured.
It is so convenient when criminals collect evidence against themselves.
Yesterday I saw a tiktok influencer ad for an new app that professes to be the uber of protective services (bodyguards) - also more and more high net worth individuals in my tech/finance networks are traveling to public events/meetups etc with security. I hope these things need not become trends.
Did he get the crypto?
Or did the Hostage disprove xkcd?
Context: https://xkcd.com/538/
5$ wrench attack
i guess underworld types don't have wrenches within easy reach - knives is their thing in Europe.
see https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/05/we-have-reached-the...
Imagine being filthy rich and thinking, "You know what? I'm going to risk going to jail to do illegal things because I'm not rich enough."
Why is this so common?
Rich mafia bosses also kill people. It's their lifestyle.
I don't think it is common, plenty of rich folks out there who do just fine.
We just hear about the bad ones.
I grew up in a smaller town in the midwest. There were some neighbors, bunch of old guy friends living in post WWII era baby boomer houses just down a few blocks. Nice guys, they were small town attorneys, politicians, small businessmen who ran some very humble businesses, and etc. They all drove 10 year old basic cars, golfed together on men's night, mowed their own lawns until they couldn't anymore.
It wasn't until I was older that I realized that they were all on the board of a local community bank that they started long ago. Over the years the bank grew, absorbed other banks.
Everyone of them was worth somewhere in the dozens of millions of dollars.
You would never know it.
In the US, there are 800 billionaires. There are 5.5 million people that millionaires by liquid assets alone, and at least another 17 million by net value from things like retirement accounts or home value.
Odds are pretty decent you know one of them, or know someone who does, and probably don't even realize it.
I think it's because there's nothing left to do except amass more money and power. Like most billionaires can do whatever they want, but they keep working, or are in the public eye. Why?
Plenty of rich folks keep their head down, bribe politicians (call it lobbying), and just keep getting what they want quietly.
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Don't worry, it happens outside the US too! Just ctrl+f this page for "France": https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-84/
This tragic, horrifying, and truly disgusting story is now going to be my go-to whenever I have to rebut all those people on HN who insist that if the perpetrator successfully acquired the bitcoin, 1) he in no way "stole" it, 2) he morally and legally owns it now, 3) his other actions don't forfeit his title of ownership, 4) any attempt by an authority to recover the bitcoin is unjust, and 5) the Ledger is the infallible source of Truth and, thence, Morality.