"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. 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. Financial claims 'wildly exaggerated': Pleterski's lawyer Pleterski didn't respond to requests for comment for this story. 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." 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. The bankruptcy proceeding against him is the only recovery process for investors right now, because it takes precedence over the civil claims against Pleterski. Pleterski told a creditors meeting in his bankruptcy that he has never spent more than $600,000 on a watch. "What's difficult with this particular case is that Pleterski was taking in a lot of cash - and how do you trace cash?" "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. 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. 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. Rented lakefront mansion for $45K a month "It was a huge surprise, we've never had a response like this," said Norman Groot, founder of Investigation Counsel PC, which only represents alleged victims of fraud. Roughly 140 investors who handed over a collective $20 million responded to a call-out for information from a fraud recovery law firm investigating Pleterski, some of whom are involved in the bankruptcy process. In a lawsuit, another investor who claims to be out $4.5 million obtained a Mareva injunction, which effectively freezes Pleterski's assets and bank accounts worldwide. The 65-year-old from Clarington, Ont., is now one of 29 creditors claiming they're owed nearly $13 million in a bankruptcy proceeding against Pleterski. "Or was this his plan and it was just the story to get me in along with other people?"ĭiane Moore invested $60,000 for her grandchildren's education with Aiden Pleterski and is still out $50,000 from her investment. "I don't know if he was ever really trading," Moore said. ![]() 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. ![]() "What Aiden has done, I think, is awful - and I don't know how he can live with himself." "The whole thing was based on trust," Moore said. 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."īut so far, Aiden Pleterski's assets fall far short of what his investors claim they're owed.Ĭreditors 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.ĭiane Moore invested $60,000 she had earmarked for her grandchildren's education after meeting Pleterski through someone she'd known for years.
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