Proactive Investors - Court documents circling online have brought to light a harrowing ordeal experienced by self-proclaimed Canadian ‘Crypto King’ Aiden Pleterski, who was allegedly kidnapped, tortured and held to ransom by disgruntled investors of his fraudulent crypto investment scheme.
An account provided by his father Dragan Pleterski described the kidnapping during bankruptcy proceedings after Aiden’s investment scheme began raking up substantial losses for investors
“He was taken. They basically held him for approximately three days, drove him around different various parts of Southern Ontario beat him, tortured him, allowed him to make specific phone calls to specific people only.
“I was not one of those people that he was allowed to contact. Approximately two to three days later, he was released with the threat that he needed to come up with some money fast, and if he had went to the police, that there would be a lot more trouble.”
Pleterski purportedly asked his landlord Sandeep Gupta for US$3mln to pay his kidnappers.
Gupta’s company The Sunray Group received over $1mln of investor funds as payment for rent at a property in Burlington, Ontario.
Gupta was also in possession of several of Pleterski’s vehicles including, a Lamborghini Huracan Performante, an Audi R8 Spyder, a Ferrari (NYSE:RACE) 488 Pista, a Honda Civic Type R, a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ, and a BMW i8.
Pleterski stated that online crypto influencers “posting luxury cars, posting luxury lifestyles… sparked my interest into the investing world”.
Court documents filed by trustee Grant Thorton Limited show that Pleterski invested just 1.6% of the US$41.5mln (£34mln) of the funds entrusted to him.
Pleterski spent $15.9 million on supercars, renting private jets, luxury vacations and other elaborate purchases.
He routinely uploaded images of himself posing in front of Lamborghinis, on superyachts and with celebrities including rapper cum pop-punk wannabe Machine Gun kelly.
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A list of individuals, including Pleterski’s parents, The Tulloch family, the Gupta family, and various friends and acquaintances was outlined in the court documents as receiving millions in proceeds from the pool of funds.
When asked during a creditors’ meeting why he continued to invest money when he knew he couldn't repay his current investors, Pleterski used the excuse that he "was a 20-something-year-old kid”, CBC reported at the time.
Diane Moore, a creditor who invested $60,000 “for her grandchildren's education”, said: "The whole thing was based on trust… What Aiden has done, I think, is awful — and I don't know how he can live with himself."