Chances are, you have not heard of Aiden Pleterski, the alleged Canadian Crypto King. Crypto, of course, is international and a scammer doesn’t care who gives them money. As a business ethics keynote speaker, business ethics consultant and book author, I have seen a dozen or more “Kings” of this and that. In this case of fraud, the Crypto King got as good as he gave. He is lucky to be alive.
The Crypto Ponzi Scheme
Before we make Aiden Pleterski into an unfortunate victim, I cannot forget the fact that he created a Ponzi Scheme where he stole more than $41 million from investors. They were naïve and basically had no idea what crypto was about.
Under the cover of no oversight and an insatiable need for money, Aiden Pleterski set himself up as the definitive crypto expert and promised if they could combine the funds they entrusted to him, he could make them huge amounts of money.
According to court documents, of the $41.5 million, he invested about $670,000, a relative pittance. However, the chicken feed investment was enough to “prove” his theories.
Instead, he took about $16 million (close to 40-percent) and led a lavish, completely hedonistic lifestyle. As a business ethics keynote speaker, business ethics consultant and ethics book author, I know he had this mindset in common with many other Ponzi scheme scam artists. He was infused with the cash and what it could do. It was a lot of power for a 24-year-old boy. He took the money and bought the usual stuff you might expect: luxury cars, vacations, jet rentals, clothing, jewelry and such.
He ran the scheme “successfully” until November 2021, when the crypto boom started to crater. He lost everything. He tried to cover his tracks and then an interesting reversal took place.
Kidnapping
Total investments of $41.5 million came from many sources and unfortunately for Pleterski, some of those funds came from characters as unsavory as he was. Sometime in December 2022, Aiden Pleterski was kidnapped. According to court documents filed in Ontario by his father on March 14, 2023:
“He was taken, they basically held him for approximately three days, drove him around different parts of Southern Ontario, beat him, tortured him, allowed him to make specific phone calls to specific people only.”
While in the hands of the kidnappers, he was allowed to call people like his landlord. Aiden Pleterski, the know-it-all Crypto King pleaded with his landlord to get him $3 million (I am presuming that is the amount he owed the kidnappers). There was nothing the landlord could do to help him.
Again, according to his father:
“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.”
He did not go to the police out of fear.
The case is currently being adjudicated. Allegedly, the courts are trying to recover $29 million.
Said Pleterski:
“I guess you could say greed took over, and I was taking very aggressive positions, and I was trying to make returns that obviously weren’t feasible or weren’t necessarily possible at the time, and it just caused more losses.”
As a business ethics keynote speaker and business ethics consultant, to me the statement still seems to reflect a lack of ethical awareness or deep-felt honesty. It appears as though the Crypto King is still trying to rationalize his unethical behavior. He is bankrupt, of course, and there remain people out there wanting to get their measure of justice.
Decision making
Naturally, some of the investors attracted to the crypto world are responsible for their own troubles (note the recent collapse of FTX). Crypto is extremely speculative and in fact, most who do invest even through a legitimate source, are forewarned as to its highly speculative nature.
In these turbulent days of the crypto investment, a number of “geniuses” are appearing who claim to have inside tracks and perfect knowledge. It is a myth. They know even less in terms of perfect knowledge than traders in oats or cattle or oil futures. The scam artists such as Aiden Pleterski know that. Scam artists prey on hope and greed. They rationalize what they can do, even while they are stealing. Pleterski rationalized he could take the little he did invest and turn it back into all he fritted-away. He couldn’t.
He may very well enjoy memories of his lavish lifestyle in prison. His “investors,” on the other hand, will get nothing.
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