The rise and fall of Canada’s ‘crypto king’, Aiden Pleterski

• By Holly Honderich
• BBC News

May 16, 2024

Image caption, In video obtained by CBC, Mr. Pleterski apologizes to investors

In December 2022, in the middle of the night, 25-year-old Aiden Pleterski was kidnapped in downtown Toronto.

His captors released the self-proclaimed “king of crypto” after three days, but under threat – Mr Pleterski had to find money quickly, according to court documents.

“I’m sorry, I really am, I didn’t want to and didn’t mean to ruin anyone’s life,” said a bruised and bloodied Mr. Pleterski. in a video obtained by CBC News. His lawyer later said the video was taken during the kidnapping.

This was not the first – nor the last – problem for the young Canadian who presented himself as a crypto ace promising “judicious investments”.

This week, after 16 months of investigation, Ontario police and the provincial securities commission announced that Mr. Pleterski had been charged with fraud of more than C$5,000 ($3,600; £2,900). and laundering the proceeds of crime.

Police also charged another man, Colin Murphy, 27, believed to be an associate of Mr Pleterski.

The investigation, dubbed “Project Swan” by authorities, is considered the largest fraud case ever recorded in the region, Durham Regional Police Chief Peter Moreira said Thursday.

This involved interviews with “a large number” of victims, more than three dozen court orders and thousands of pages of financial documents, he said.

Mr. Pleterski was not registered “in any capacity” with any Canadian securities regulator, said Stephen Henkel of the Ontario Securities Commission.

Authorities said Mr. Pleterski could have solicited investors as late as February 2024.

If convicted, he faces up to 14 years in prison.

None of the allegations against Mr. Pleterski have been tested in court.

In announcing the charges Thursday, Ontario authorities remained tight-lipped about the details of their case, citing a publication ban surrounding the case.

But according to ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, Mr. Pleterski had raised some C$41.5 million from investors, promising to invest in cryptocurrencies and foreign markets.

Image source, Durham Regional Police Service

He invested just 1.6 percent of that sum — while spending millions on luxury cars, private jet flights and lakeside mansions, according to court documents.

Mr. Pleterski was still in high school when he began dabbling in cryptocurrency, using it to make purchases in video games like Call of Duty.

At the same time, he began noticing people “posting luxury cars, posting luxury lifestyles” on social media, he said in an interview as part of his bankruptcy case .

Mr. Pleterski looked into the matter and found that many said they made their money through cryptocurrency investments.

“That’s what piqued my interest,” he said.

In 2020, Mr. Pleterski began investing, starting with a few thousand dollars from family members and money from his job as a baseball umpire.

By December of that year, he had moved into his own rental house, paying CA$9,000 each month with income from his business plus “a few thousand dollars” from a government emergency benefit for those affected. financially by the Covid-19 pandemic.

A few months later, he moved again into a multimillion-dollar, five-bedroom mansion in Burlington, 50 km south of Toronto.

The same year, his own parents wanted to invest and paid him a sum of CAN$50,000, according to court documents. Mr. Pleterski gave his parents a return on their investment, they said, in addition to luxury gifts – a McLaren 60LT and a BMW M8 for his father, a Louis Vuitton bag and a Burberry coat for his mother, and a 2017 Bentley Bentayga for the couple’s wedding. birthday.

Dragan and Kathy Pleterski told lawyers at Grant Thornton, an accounting firm and appointed trustee in the bankruptcy case, that they believed their son “operated a successful investment business.”

All the while, he cultivated the type of social media presence that sparked his interest in investing. Mr Pleterski posted photos of himself on private jets, on vacation in Miami and the Bahamas, as well as a driveway full of luxury cars.

“Where will life take me next?” he wrote in a caption.

But in April 2022, cracks in Mr. Pleterski’s lavish life began to appear.

Lawsuits from investors began piling up, with allegations that he embezzled their money.

From there it was a slow drip. In July, the Ontario Superior Court ordered Mr. Pleterski’s assets frozen. In August, the court ordered him and his company bankrupt.

Then, in December, the alleged kidnapping occurred.

Last summer, Toronto police arrested five suspects on kidnapping for ransom and other charges, including a man who had invested funds with Mr. Pleterski, according to court documents.

The new owners of Mr. Pleterski’s Burlington mansion were also threatened.

Canadian NBA star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his partner Hailey Summers fled the property after a man showed up and asked where Mr Pleterski was.

After the couple reported the incident, police said they received previous reports of attempted break-ins at the property.

“Ms. Summers and Mr. Gilgeous-Alexander were alarmed enough by this news to leave their newly purchased dream home, never to return,” their lawyer said in court papers. The couple later won a lawsuit overturning the purchase of the house.

For his part, Mr. Pleterski on Thursday made what appears to be one of his first public references to the saga, posting a simple Instagram story thanking his followers for supporting him.

“So many of you are supporting us, you are all amazing,” he wrote.

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