A 23-year-old self-described “Crypto King” from Whitby, Ontario, a town east of Toronto, allegedly owes at least $35 million to investors in what is shaping up to be a cryptocurrency scam.
More than 150 investors who handed over a collective $20 million to Aiden Pleterski and his company, AP Private Equity Limited, which reportedly invests in cryptocurrency and foreign exchange, are now working with Toronto-based fraud recovery lawyer Norman Groot to get their money back.
“It’s not clear at this time where those funds have gone, even though obviously a lot of it has to do with his lifestyle,” Groot, founder of Investigation Counsel PC, told CTV National News.
Pleterski owned 11 high-end cars, in addition to leasing several others, according to Groot. He also rented a waterfront home in Burlington for approximately $45,000 per month and owned five or six watches valued at between $200,000 and $400,000, according to a bankruptcy trustee’s report obtained by CTV National News.
“He was burning a lot of money,” Groot said.
So far, about $2.2 million in assets have been recovered, including two McLarens, two BMWs and a Lamborghini Huracan worth an estimated $350,000. About $32,000 worth of jewellery and another $606,773 in cash and bank drafts has also been recovered, according to bankruptcy documents filed in an Ontario court.
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