Part of the CustodyStress archive of observed Bitcoin custody incidents
CS-01370
Physical coercion — hardware wallet (2025)
ConstrainedCase description
Beginning May 6, 2025, Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan, a 28-year-old Italian cryptocurrency trader, was held captive for approximately 17 days in a luxury SoHo townhouse in Manhattan by John Woeltz (37) and William Duplessie (33). The captors—crypto investors who had a prior business relationship with Carturan—lured him to New York by threatening his family. Once inside, they stripped him of his passport and electronics and subjected him to sustained torture: electric shocks, beatings, forced drug use, dangling over a five-story staircase ledge, and threats against his family. The explicit goal was to obtain the password to Carturan's Bitcoin wallet. Carturan escaped on May 23 by feigning cooperation to retrieve his laptop, then fleeing barefoot.
Custody context
| Stress condition | Physical coercion |
| Custody system | Hardware wallet (single key) |
| Outcome | Constrained |
| Documentation | Unknown |
| Year observed | 2025 |
| Country | United States |
Structural dependencies observed
What this illustrates
Access required in-person verification that couldn't be arranged under the circumstances. Whether full access was ultimately possible is unclear, but significant delay or outside intervention was involved.
Outcome interpretation
Access remained possible, but only with delay, dependence, or significant difficulty.
Source
Publicly Reported
Evidence type
News article
Related cases involving physical coercion
105 cases involve physical coercion
274 cases involve hardware wallet (single key)
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This archive documents observed custody survivability failures. It does not attempt to document all Bitcoin losses or security incidents.
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Framework references
Where Bitcoin Custody Intersects Legal and Fiduciary Authority
Where custody creates gaps in estate planning, fiduciary duty, and professional responsibility.
Professional Scope Boundary Matrix
What each professional or product covers, what they do not, and where gaps form between them.
The Independent Assessment Layer in Bitcoin Custody
How independent diagnostic layers emerge when multiple parties depend on shared infrastructure.
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