He promised obscene returns and stole over $40 million from his victims...
Before being kidnapped and paraded on Canadian national television.
Aiden Pleterski.
This is the true story of this young Canadian, who calls himself the “Crypto King.”
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The boy who discovered crypto between Call of Duty matches.
Aiden Pleterski grew up in Ontario, in an ordinary family.
He discovered crypto as a teenager, buying items and skins in video games like Call of Duty.
He lived the life of an ordinary young person, going to school and scrolling through Instagram.
He saw dream lives unfold, filled with Ferraris, private jets, luxury watches, and villas.
He was tired of his "ordinary" life and wanted to live that life of luxury.
And for him, the solution to going from his teenage bedroom to a McLaren was trading!
So, in 2020, he started trading seriously with his own savings, accumulated by working odd jobs and umpiring baseball on weekends.
The first trades went well; he immediately thought he had found THE winning formula.
“AP Private Equity”: The Promises Machine
Pleterski quickly went from amateur trader to self-proclaimed “investment manager.”
He created a company, 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 guarantee that capital was guaranteed and that in case of loss, investors would be fully reimbursed.
He quickly attracted individuals with little knowledge of crypto, as well as friends and entrepreneurs looking to “put their cash to work.”
Bankruptcy documents and the authorities’ investigation revealed that, in total, approximately 41.5 million Canadian dollars were entrusted to Pleterski.
His dream life.
Aiden is finally living the life he's always wanted.
He showcases himself on social media, posting stories from idyllic locations, traveling from Miami to the Bahamas, by way of Los Angeles.
He poses in private jets and luxury cars...
For many, these images are proof that he's really making a lot of money.
The day everything collapses.
In July 2022, the cracks began to appear, and investors were unable to withdraw their money.
Aiden could no longer deliver on its promised returns, and excuses, requests for extensions, and silence were no longer effective.
Numerous people filed complaints, and civil lawsuits ensued.
A firm, Grant Thornton, was appointed trustee and tasked with preparing a report on Aiden's company, and the result was unequivocal:
$41.5 million had been paid to Pleterski and AP Private Equity by approximately 160 investors, but only 1.6% of these funds had actually been invested in financial assets (crypto or forex).
According to the report, approximately $15.9 to $16 million had been spent on luxury cars, private jet rentals, vacations abroad, and rents for high-end homes.
A large portion of the money was used to pay off previous investors with the money from new ones, a system similar to a Ponzi scheme.
The trustee also notes that at the time of the proceedings, Pleterski owned 11 vehicles and leased 4 others.
A few hundred thousand dollars have been recovered by creditors, but nearly $38 million remains unaccounted for.
The story takes a nightmarish turn.
Many victims are ready to do anything to get their money back.
Aiden receives death threats and is harassed on social media, but also when he walks down the street.
In 2023, a news story made headlines in the United States: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, NBA star of the Oklahoma City Thunder, bought an $8.4 million mansion in Burlington, a house where Pleterski had lived just before him.
A few days after moving in, strangers showed up at the door, looking for the “Crypto King.”
The unannounced visits, day and night, the threats, and the damage done to the property became so overwhelming that the basketball star decided to flee the house in less than a week.
The court will eventually cancel the sale, considering that the seller, aware of the risks linked to Pleterski's history in the property, should have informed the buyer.
The kidnapping of the “Crypto King.”
But this was just the beginning of what was to come.
In early December 2022, several men kidnapped Aiden Pleterski in Toronto, right off the street.
He recounts being taken to various locations “in southern Ontario,” held captive for about three days, beaten, mistreated, and even tortured.
A video shows a bloodied Pleterski, his face bruised, apologizing to the camera to the investors and promising to reimburse them.
During his captivity, he called his father and his real estate mentor, Sandeep Gupta, telling them he needed $3 million for his kidnappers to release him.
Gupta alerted the police and informed the kidnappers that he needed time to “raise the funds.”
Finally, Pleterski was released. He told his father he had been ordered to "find money quickly" and not to speak to the police.
After several months, several suspects were arrested, some of whom were reportedly investors ruined by Aiden.
In 2025, one of the accused pleaded guilty to kidnapping and torture charges related to the case, confirming that the abduction was real and extremely violent.
This episode symbolizes one of the first "wrench attacks," physical attacks against prominent figures in the crypto world.
Project Swan: When Justice Catches Up to Aiden.
While the kidnapping story circulates, the criminal investigation regarding Aiden's scam follows its course.
In July 2022, police in the Durham region begin receiving complaints from investors who can no longer recover their funds.
A vast joint investigation is launched with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) and will be named Project Swan.
After 16 months of investigation, dozens of communication orders, thousands of pages of financial statements scrutinized, the conclusion falls: Aiden Pleterski and his accomplice are arrested and charged with fraud and money laundering in May 2024.
Aiden Pleterski denies the charges against him and manages to obtain release on bail (100,000 $) with his parents as sureties.
Aiden Pleterski's trial will begin on October 5, 2026, for a duration of four weeks.
Aiden faces up to 14 years in prison.
