Men charged in alleged crypto torture case in New York City plead not guilty

NEW YORK -- The two men charged in an alleged kidnapping and torture case in SoHo have pleaded not guilty to charges against them on Wednesday.

John Woeltz, 37, and William Duplessie, 32, who allegedly tortured a man in a luxe Manhattan townhouse to obtain his Bitcoin password, pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, assault and coercion stemming from the alleged torture of a man in a luxe SoHo townhouse to obtain his cryptocurrency.

Judge Gregory Carro ordered them to remain held without bail through their next appearance July 15

A prosecutor, Sarah Kahn, showed the judge a photo that she said depicted the alleged victim on fire. She said the defendants would pour tequila on him, light him on fire, and then put the fire out - sometimes by urinating on him.

Woeltz and Duplessie pistol-whipped the victim with a gun, cut him with a small chainsaw, and used various other instruments as part of the torture, Kahn said.

She said prosecutors have had conversations with other, unnamed, law enforcement agencies that indicated Woeltz and Duplessie have tortured people before. She did not elaborate.

The defense pushed back, saying there is video of the alleged victim "having the time of his life," and engaging in activity at odds with having been tortured.

The defense attorneys said they obtained a different video from an eyeglass store taken 36 hours before the alleged victim left the townhouse that purportedly shows him smoking a cigarette by himself on the street.

"The story that he is selling just doesn't make sense," defense attorney Sam Talkin, who represents Duplessie, told the judge.

Prosecutors have not seen the video and Kahn said, "Victims of abuse are not always going to ask in a way that we expect people to do."

A search of the townhouse turned up cocaine, a saw, chicken wire, body armor, night vision goggles, ammunition and Polaroid photos of the victim with a gun pointed to his head, according to prosecutors.

(ABC News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.)