Detective assigned to NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ security detail allegedly dropped off victim in crypto kidnapping case, sources say

By John Miller, CNN

(CNN) — A New York City Police detective assigned to Mayor Eric Adams’ security detail will be questioned in relation to a bizarre crypto currency kidnapping and torture plot after he allegedly delivered the victim to his tormentors, according to multiple law enforcement officials briefed on the case.

It is not clear if the detective had any knowledge or any role in the multiple assaults, officials said, adding that is a key question that investigators are trying to answer.

The investigation comes after two people, John Woeltz and William Duplessie, were charged in the case. Prosecutors said they were involved in holding a 28-year-old wealthy Italian cryptocurrency trader hostage for several weeks as part of a violent scheme to obtain his Bitcoin password, the Manhattan District Attorney said. The victim, who has not been named by investigators, was ultimately able to escape.

Both men have pleaded not guilty. Duplessie’s attorney declined to comment on the case. CNN has reached out to Woeltz’s attorney for comment.

Investigators learned that the detective, who picked up the victim on May 6 from John F. Kennedy International Airport, was working “off-duty employment” providing security for Woeltz, a Crypto entrepreneur, sources said.

The detective was contacted by NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau and has been placed on “modified assignment,” meaning his badge and guns have been taken and he is assigned to administrative duties as the investigation into the plot continues. A second detective, assigned to the Narcotics Division, was also placed on modified assignment as part of the same investigation, according to the officials. Investigators also do not know whether that detective had any awareness of the plot or involvement in it.

The union representing the detectives declined to comment.

Two members of the NYPD were placed on modified duty Wednesday, an NYPD spokesperson told the Associated Press. CNN has reached out to the mayor’s office and the NYPD for more information.

Adams’ office confirmed one of the detectives provides security detail for the mayor, but said the mayor has no knowledge of what the officer does on his personal time, the Associated Press reported.

“Every city employee is expected to follow the law, including our officers, both on and off duty,” the mayor’s office told the Associated Press. “We are disturbed by these allegations.”

Prosecutors say the victim in the kidnapping plot was tortured for days, threatened to be killed and at one point dangled over a railing if he did not give up his Bitcoin password. When the victim refused, he was subjected to beatings that included but were “not limited to,” using electric wires to shock him, pointing a firearm at his head and using that firearm to strike him in the head, they said.

The two men also bound the victim’s wrists and said they would have his family killed, according to the district attorney.

Both detectives being questioned in relation to the case were apparently hired through a private security and investigation company run by a retired NYPD sergeant, sources told CNN.

The NYPD had no record of either detective applying for, or being approved for, off duty employment, the process by which an NYPD employee can pick up other work outside the department, law enforcement sources told CNN.

Officials briefed on the investigation are considering several questions, including if the detectives have any knowledge or any role in the multiple assaults.

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