Glamorous Italian assistant tied to $100m crypto bros' 'torture chamber' at $75,000-a-month NYC mansion - where tourist 'was held hostage for his Bitcoin account'
The glamorous Italian assistant of the Kentucky-based crypto investor accused of kidnapping and torturing a tourist has reportedly been arrested and charged as investigators extend their probe.
Beatrice Folchi, 24, was arrested on Friday on suspicion of first-degree kidnapping and first-degree unlawful imprisonment after a man from Turin told police he had been held hostage for nearly three weeks in an effort to extort his crypto passwords.
Folchi, an aspiring actress who lives in Connecticut, was seen being led out of the $75,000-per-month brownstone Soho home on Saturday, where the sickening ordeal is alleged to have taken place.
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office declined to prosecute pending further investigation, a spokesperson said, and Ms Folchi insisted she was not implicated in the crimes.
'I'm not arrested,' she told the New York Post outside her apartment in Chelsea, New York City, declining to comment further.
'Everything is going to be told but with a lawyer - I can't make any comments right now,' she said.
The development comes after a 28-year-old Italian tourist fled the 'house of horrors' on Friday, flagging down a nearby cop after being locked away for three weeks.
Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan said he had been lured to the house by his former business associate, John Woeltz, who allegedly chained him up, electrocuted him, pistol-whipped him and threatened to cut him up with a chainsaw if he did not yield passwords to his crypto accounts.
He said that he seized the opportunity to escape after being told that Friday would be his 'death day'.
Police say the men took Polaroid photographs of themselves torturing him - one showing him bound to a chair with a gun pressed to his head.
The photos, authorities believe, were likely intended to extort money from either the alleged victim or his family back in Italy.
Police raided the Soho address after Mr Carturan escaped and claimed he had been held captive since May 6.
The tourist had only recently arrived in Manhattan from Italy after allegedly being lured by the false promises of an business opportunity.
John Woeltz, known as the 'the crypto king of Kentucky' with an estimated worth of $100mn, was dragged out of the building in a white bath robe on Friday morning.
Police have arrested a group of so-called 'crypto bros' in connection with the case, accused of binding the alleged victim with electrical cords and using other forms of shock torture to get him to share his passwords.
Mr Woeltz allegedly snatched the alleged victim's electronic devices as he arrived and demanded he give up his crypto password to an account holding Bitcoin.
The gang were alleged to have pistol-whipped Mr Carturan and threatened to sever off his limbs with an electric chainsaw before he did concede his passwords.
At one point, they were said to have 'carried the victim to the top flight of stairs of the apartment in the compound and hung the victim over the ledge, after threatening to kill the victim if [he] did not provide the defendant with the victim's Bitcoin password'.
Police said the men took Polaroid photographs of themselves torturing him - one showing him bound to a chair with a gun pressed to his head.
The photos, authorities believe, were likely intended to extort money from either the alleged victim or his family back in Italy.
The men also reportedly forced him into taking drugs - including crack cocaine - and imposed mental torment upon him, repeatedly insisting he would never escape.
Prosecutors also allege that he was urinated on during the ordeal, and that his captors slashed his leg.
Sources told the New York Post that he was fitted with an Apple AirTag to track his movements, but made a daring escape on Friday when their backs were turned.
He fled the Soho townhouse just after 9.30am on Friday and found safety in a traffic agent nearby.
Police then raided the house and found broken glass, helmets, night vision goggles and a bullet proof vest strewn across the apartment.
Authorities also discovered a firearm, prompting them to request a search warrant for a more thorough investigation of the property.
Mr Woeltz, described by police as the renting occupant of the appartment, was found in an upstairs bathroom.
He was arrested and is currently being held with charges pending.
Folchi, an Italian-born marketing manager and small-time actress, was reportedly working as Woeltz's assistant at the time of the alleged crimes.
Her professional bio claimed she had experience working with high-end brands like Puma, Manchester City, Rolls-Royce and Bentley.
Meanwhile, her IMDB and Backstage pages detail minor roles in short films, including a 2021 indie titled Butterfly Wings. Her social media is now mostly locked down.
Friends from the Connecticut suburbs where her family once lived told reporters her parents had recently rented out their home and returned to Italy.
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