Updated Wednesday, Jan.14, 4:28 p.m.
An Astoria man claimed he had to kill his roommate after the lawyer tied him up and tried to force him at gunpoint to liquidate his stocks, according to published reports.
Quentin Capobianco, 18, told police that Jesse Smith, 29, restrained him with zip ties on Jan. 12 and ordered him to liquidate the stocks with a shotgun pointed to his head, reports said.
According to the New York Post, Capobianco was confronting Smith over money he owed him for apartment damages.
Capobianco managed to escape from his ties, and grab a hammer and use it to strike Smith repeatedly in the head, reports said.
Police found the victim, Jesse Smith, at his home inside the Exo Apartments, a luxury building on 21st Street near Astoria Boulevard, about 3:30 p.m. with severe trauma to his head, authorities said. Smith was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where he died.
Capobianco was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon with intent to use, police said. The hammer, as well as a shotgun, were recovered at the scene.
Smith, a lawyer, worked at the Forest Hills firm Morton Povman, PC, according to published reports, and a LinkedIn account for Capobianco lists him as paralegal for the attorney.
He was also in business with Smith, running a currency exchange operation involving Bitcoin, a form of digital money, according to DNAinfo.
Capobianco was arraigned on Jan. 13 in Queens Criminal Court, where was held on $250,000 bond, the district attorney’s office said. His next court date is Jan. 30.
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