The Rise and Fall of Canada’s ‘King of Crypto’ Aiden Pleterski

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 get some money quickly, according to court documents.

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

It was not the first – nor the last – problem for the young Canadian who called himself a crypto genius, promising “smart investments”.

This week, after a 16-month investigation, Ontario police and the provincial securities commission announced that Pleterski has been charged with fraud in excess of C$5,000 ($3,600; £2,900) and laundering the proceeds of crime.

Police also charged another man, Colin Murphy, 27, allegedly an associate of 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 on Thursday.

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

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

Authorities said Pleterski may have solicited investors as early as February 2024.

If convicted, he could face up to 14 years in prison.

None of the charges against Pleterski have been tested in court.

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

But according to ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, Pleterski raised about 41.5 million Canadian dollars from investors, promising to invest in cryptocurrencies and foreign markets.

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

Pleterski was still in high school when he became interested in cryptocurrencies, using them to make purchases in video games like Call of Duty.

At the same time, he started noticing people “posting fancy cars, posting fancy lifestyles” on social media, he said during an interview for his bankruptcy case.

Pleterski investigated the matter and found that many said they made money from cryptocurrency investments.

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

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

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

A few months later, he moved again – to a five-bedroom multimillion-dollar mansion in Burlington, 50 km (30 miles) south of Toronto.

That same year, his own parents wanted to invest and gave him an amount of C$50,000, according to court documents. Pleterski gave his parents a return on their investment, they said, as well as 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 wedding of the couple. birthday.

Dragan and Kathy Pleterski told attorneys at Grant Thornton, an accounting and management firm named in the bankruptcy case, that they believed their son was “operating a successful investment business.”

At the same time, he cultivated the kind of social media presence that initially sparked his interest in investing. Pleterski posted photos of himself on private jets, vacationing in Miami and the Bahamas, and of a garage full of luxury cars.

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

But in April 2022, the cracks in Pleterski’s luxurious life began to show.

Lawsuits filed by investors began to pile up, with allegations that he had misappropriated their money.

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

Then, in December, came the alleged kidnapping.

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

The new owners of Pleterski’s Burlington mansion also faced threats.

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

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

“Ms. Summers and Mr. Gilgeous-Alexander were sufficiently alarmed by this news that they moved out of their newly purchased dream home, never to return,” their lawyer said in court documents. Later, the couple won a lawsuit that annulled the purchase of the house.

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

“So many of you are supportive, you are amazing,” he wrote.