Canada’s self-proclaimed Crypto King, Aiden Pleterski, is alleging in his bankruptcy proceedings that he was kidnapped and held for a massive, $3 million ransom in mid-December.
As background, Pleterski is accused of bilking investors out of tens of millions of dollars. He was given over $40 million from cryptocurrency investors and only invested about 2% of it. He allegedly spent the rest on various luxury goods, including private jets and luxury cars, along with elaborate vacations around the world.
In any case, Pleterski alleges that he was kidnapped in downtown Toronto in mid-December of 2022 and tortured for days as he begged his landlord to pay the $3 million ransom. That news comes from Rob Stelzer, the appointed bankruptcy trustee. He told CTV News Toronto that the Toronto police informed him that Pleterski had been kidnapped in mid-December.
His father, describing the kidnapping to the court, said, “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.”
The landlord, who is the one Pleterski begged for help, told the court “I received multiple calls from Aiden, but it was late at night … and then at around 1:30 a.m., I finally had enough, and I picked up the call. I said, ‘There’s absolutely nothing that I can do.’”
Apparently, Pleterksi was only allowed to contact certain people to ask for the ransom money, one of whom was that landlord. His father was not on the approved list of contacts.
Fox News Digital, giving a few more details about the alleged ransom and release, reported:
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Canadian Broadcasting Corporation also reported that court documents allege Pleterski was released three days late but still ordered to come up with the money fast.
“We cannot confirm any information that would identify a victim, or witness,” a spokesperson for Toronto Police said in a statement to Fox News Digital when asked about the case.
Toronto police did not respond to questions about the identities of the alleged kidnappers or if any arrests have been made.
The Daily Mail, reporting on the allegations made by Pleterski’s bilked investors, says:
He [Pleterksi] is accused of taking the millions invested in him by speculators and spending 98 percent of the funds on his lavish lifestyle, which saw him jet around the world; buy numerous properties; and keep a garage of supercars including a Lamborghini, McLaren and BMWs.
Pleterski, confronted about why he continued to take money from investors even when he knew that he couldn’t repay his existing clients, told investigators it was because he ‘was a 20-something-year-old kid,’ CBC News reported.
Pleterski has not yet been arrested in connection with the misuse of investor funds, though he was arrested and released in Florida on a domestic violence charge in 2021.
Featured image credit: Polk County Sheriff’s Office