⚡️🇨🇦 STORY - He promised outrageous returns and stole more than $40 million from his victims...
Before being kidnapped and exposed on Canadian national television.
Aiden Pleterski.
This is the true story of this young Canadian, who calls himself the "Crypto King."
➥ The boy who discovered crypto between two rounds of Call of Duty.
Aiden Pleterski grew up in Ontario, in an ordinary family.
He discovered crypto as a teenager, buying items and skins in video games such as Call of Duty.
He lived the life of an unremarkable young man, going to class and scrolling through Instagram.
He saw dream lives scrolling by, filled with Ferraris, private jets, luxury watches, and villas.
He was tired of being an "ordinary" young man and wanted to live that life of luxury.
And for him, the solution to go from his teenage bedroom to a McLaren was trading!
In 2020, he began trading seriously with his own savings, which he had accumulated by doing odd jobs and umpiring baseball on the weekends.
His first trades went well, and he immediately thought he had found THE right formula.
➥ “AP Private Equity”: the promise machine.
Pleterski quickly went from being an amateur trader to a self-proclaimed “investment manager.”
He created a structure called AP Private Equity Ltd, which promised high returns (10 to 20% every two weeks) in crypto and forex trading.
He even went so far as to assure investors that their capital was guaranteed and that, in the event of a loss, they would be fully reimbursed.
He quickly attracted individuals who knew little about crypto, as well as friends, family, and entrepreneurs who wanted to "put their cash to work."
Bankruptcy documents and the authorities' investigation will show that a total of approximately C$41.5 million was entrusted to Pleterski.
➥ His dream life.
Aiden is finally living the life he always wanted.
He posts on social media, shares stories from idyllic locations, and travels from Miami to the Bahamas via Los Angeles.
He poses in private jets and luxury cars...
For many, these images are proof that he really does earn a lot of money.
➥ The day everything collapses.
In July 2022, cracks begin to appear, and investors are unable to withdraw their money.
Aiden can no longer deliver on his promises of returns, and excuses, requests for extensions, and silence no longer work...
Many people file complaints, and civil lawsuits follow.
A firm, Grant Thornton, is appointed as trustee and tasked with preparing a report on Aiden's company, and the result is clear:
$41.5 million was paid to Pleterski and AP Private Equity by approximately 160 investors, but only 1.6% of these funds were actually invested in financial assets (crypto or forex).
According to the report, approximately $15.9 to $16 million was spent on luxury cars, private jet rentals, vacations abroad, and prestigious home rentals.
Another large portion of the money was used to pay former investors with money from new investors, a system similar to a Ponzi scheme.
The trustee also notes that at the time of the proceedings, Pleterski owned 11 vehicles and leased four others.
Several hundred thousand dollars were recovered by creditors, but nearly $38 million remains untraceable.
➥ The story turns into a nightmare.
Many victims are willing to do anything to get their money back.
Aiden receives death threats and is harassed on social media, but also when walking down the street.
In 2023, a news story hits the headlines in the United States: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, NBA star of the Oklahoma City Thunder, buys an $8.4 million mansion in Burlington, a house where Pleterski lived just before him.
A few days after moving in, strangers show up at the door, looking for the "Crypto King."
The impromptu visits, day and night, the threats, and the damage done to the property were so overwhelming that the basketball star decided to flee the house in less than a week.
The courts eventually canceled the sale, ruling that the seller, aware of the risks associated with Pleterski's history in the property, should have informed the buyer.
➥ The kidnapping of the "Crypto King."
But that was only the beginning of what was to come.
In early December 2022, several men kidnapped Aiden Pleterski on the streets of Toronto.
He says he was taken to various locations "in southern Ontario," held captive for about three days, beaten, abused, and even tortured.
A video shows a bloodied Pleterski, his face bruised, apologizing to investors on camera and promising to repay them.
During his captivity, he made calls to his father and his real estate mentor, Sandeep Gupta, to tell them that he needed $3 million for his captors to let him go.
Gupta notified the police and told the kidnappers that he needed time to "raise the funds."
Pleterski was eventually released.
He told his father that he had been ordered to "find the money quickly" and not to talk to the police.
Several months later, a number of suspects were arrested, some of whom were investors who had been ruined by Aiden.
In 2025, one of the defendants pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping and torture related to the case, confirming that the kidnapping was real and extremely violent.
The episode symbolizes one of the first "wrench attacks," physical attacks against crypto personalities.
➥ Project Swan: When justice catches up with Aiden.
While the story of the kidnapping circulates, the criminal investigation into Aiden's scam continues.
In July 2022, Durham Regional Police began receiving complaints from investors who were unable to recover their funds.
A large-scale joint investigation was launched with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) and named Project Swan.
After 16 months of investigation, dozens of disclosure orders, and thousands of pages of financial statements pored over, the conclusion is reached: Aiden Pleterski and his accomplice are arrested and charged with fraud and money laundering in May 2024.
Aiden Pleterski denied the charges against him and was granted bail ($100,000) with his parents as guarantors.
Aiden Pleterski's trial will begin on October 5, 2026, and is expected to last four weeks.
Aiden faces up to 14 years in prison.
