OP 20 September, 2022 - 04:51 PM
Aiden Pleterski and his company allegedly owe $35M to more than 140 investors
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Two McLarens, two BMWs and a Lamborghini make up just a few of the $2 million worth of assets seized from a 23-year-old from Whitby, Ont., as his investors try to recoup millions of dollars they handed over to the self-described "Crypto King."
But so far, Aiden Pleterski's assets fall far short of what his investors claim they're owed.
Creditors are working to unravel where at least $35 million provided to Pleterski and his company AP Private Equity Limited for cryptocurrency and foreign exchange investments ended up, according to a fraud recovery lawyer and documents filed in two separate actions reviewed by CBC Toronto.
Diane Moore invested $60,000 she had earmarked for her grandchildren's education after meeting Pleterski through someone she'd known for years. Now she's out $50,000.
"The whole thing was based on trust," Moore said. "What Aiden has done, I think, is awful — and I don't know how he can live with himself."
The terms of Moore's investment included a 70-30 split on any capital gains (with 70 per cent for her and 30 per cent for Pleterski), a commitment the initial investment would be paid back in full if it was lost, and target capital gains of 10 to 20 per cent biweekly, according to her investment contract.
"I don't know if he was ever really trading," Moore said. "Or was this his plan and it was just the story to get me in along with other people?"
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Rented lakefront mansion for $45K a month
Through a bankruptcy trustee's report, creditors meeting minutes, court filings, and complaints made to Groot's firm, a picture emerges of Pleterski's luxurious life before things fell apart. The young man, dubbed "the Crypto King" in several paid-for promotional articles, owned 11 vehicles, was leasing four other luxury cars, flew on private jets, and was paying $45,000 a month to rent a lakefront mansion in Burlington, Ont.
"This guy had a large lifestyle burn rate, but it doesn't account for the amount of money that's missing," Groot told CBC Toronto.
"What's difficult with this particular case is that Pleterski was taking in a lot of cash — and how do you trace cash?"
The bankruptcy proceeding against him is the only recovery process for investors right now, because it takes precedence over the civil claims against Pleterski.
Investors questioned Pleterski at length in the first creditors meeting — which ran more than five hours — in late August, according to the meeting's minutes. When asked why he continued to invest money when he knew he couldn't repay his current investors, Pleterski told the meeting he "was a 20-something-year-old kid."
Pleterski didn't respond to requests for comment for this story.
Financial claims 'wildly exaggerated': Pleterski's lawyer
In an email, Pleterski's lawyer told CBC Toronto that his client disputes many of the claims against him and believes the financial claims from many people who gave him money "have been wildly exaggerated." Pleterski started investing in cryptocurrency as a teenager and people gave him money to invest once they saw how much money he was making for himself and people around him — but he never solicited money, according to his lawyer Micheal Simaan.
"Shockingly, it seems that nobody bothered to consider what would happen if the cryptocurrency market plummeted or whether Aiden, as a very young man, was qualified to handle these types of investments," wrote Simaan.
"Aiden has been co-operating with the bankruptcy process and is hopeful that it will work out in the most equitable fashion for everyone involved."
Two McLarens, two BMWs and a Lamborghini make up just a few of the $2 million worth of assets seized from a 23-year-old from Whitby, Ont., as his investors try to recoup millions of dollars they handed over to the self-described "Crypto King."
But so far, Aiden Pleterski's assets fall far short of what his investors claim they're owed.
Creditors are working to unravel where at least $35 million provided to Pleterski and his company AP Private Equity Limited for cryptocurrency and foreign exchange investments ended up, according to a fraud recovery lawyer and documents filed in two separate actions reviewed by CBC Toronto.
Diane Moore invested $60,000 she had earmarked for her grandchildren's education after meeting Pleterski through someone she'd known for years. Now she's out $50,000.
"The whole thing was based on trust," Moore said. "What Aiden has done, I think, is awful — and I don't know how he can live with himself."
The terms of Moore's investment included a 70-30 split on any capital gains (with 70 per cent for her and 30 per cent for Pleterski), a commitment the initial investment would be paid back in full if it was lost, and target capital gains of 10 to 20 per cent biweekly, according to her investment contract.
"I don't know if he was ever really trading," Moore said. "Or was this his plan and it was just the story to get me in along with other people?"
Rented lakefront mansion for $45K a month
Through a bankruptcy trustee's report, creditors meeting minutes, court filings, and complaints made to Groot's firm, a picture emerges of Pleterski's luxurious life before things fell apart. The young man, dubbed "the Crypto King" in several paid-for promotional articles, owned 11 vehicles, was leasing four other luxury cars, flew on private jets, and was paying $45,000 a month to rent a lakefront mansion in Burlington, Ont.
"This guy had a large lifestyle burn rate, but it doesn't account for the amount of money that's missing," Groot told CBC Toronto.
"What's difficult with this particular case is that Pleterski was taking in a lot of cash — and how do you trace cash?"
The bankruptcy proceeding against him is the only recovery process for investors right now, because it takes precedence over the civil claims against Pleterski.
Investors questioned Pleterski at length in the first creditors meeting — which ran more than five hours — in late August, according to the meeting's minutes. When asked why he continued to invest money when he knew he couldn't repay his current investors, Pleterski told the meeting he "was a 20-something-year-old kid."
Pleterski didn't respond to requests for comment for this story.
Financial claims 'wildly exaggerated': Pleterski's lawyer
In an email, Pleterski's lawyer told CBC Toronto that his client disputes many of the claims against him and believes the financial claims from many people who gave him money "have been wildly exaggerated." Pleterski started investing in cryptocurrency as a teenager and people gave him money to invest once they saw how much money he was making for himself and people around him — but he never solicited money, according to his lawyer Micheal Simaan.
"Shockingly, it seems that nobody bothered to consider what would happen if the cryptocurrency market plummeted or whether Aiden, as a very young man, was qualified to handle these types of investments," wrote Simaan.
"Aiden has been co-operating with the bankruptcy process and is hopeful that it will work out in the most equitable fashion for everyone involved."