Stewart Wilson testified it felt like “TV stuff“ as he sat in self-described “Crypto King“ Aiden Pleterski’s lakefront mansion five years ago as he told him he was operating a $30-$50 million investment fund.
“It was about 8,000 square feet on the waterfront in Burlington. At that point you could peg it at eight million dollars,” Wilson told the court.
“He told me he bought it. I told him he was crazy.“
Wilson, who ended up investing $890,000 with Pleterski, was one of three investors called as witnesses for the Crown in the second day of the 27-year-old’s trial Wednesday in Superior Court in Toronto.
Pleterski has pleaded not guilty to fraud over $5,000 and money laundering.
Aiden Pleterski, who went by the moniker ‘Crypto King,’ enters the Superior Court of Justice building, in Toronto, on Oct. 5. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
The Crown is alleging Pleterski guaranteed investors’ money given to him for trading between July 2020 and July 2022, but never actually invested the funds. Instead, the Crown argues Pleterski spent the money on himself: Exotic cars, flights on private jets, lavish shopping and credit card bills that ran into the millions.
‘He had been raking in a lot of money’
About a year and half before Wilson’s November 2021 mansion visit, he testified that Pleterski showed up at his business, GTA Exotics, which rents out luxury cars. He said Pleterski “started out small,” renting an Audi R8. From there, Pleterski went on to rent out higher-end sports cars like Lamborginis and a McLaren.
Eventually, Wilson said Pleterski stopped renting and he said he believed Pleterski had bought his own Audi.
“I saw through social media he was doing well, living in this big house … he bought some very extravagant cars, I was happy for him,“ Wilson testified.
“He didn’t try to entice me at all into joining, which I thought was pretty cool, he was doing it on his own.“
After seeing that, and hearing Pleterski’s close friends and family were investing and hearing they were getting returns, Wilson says he reached out to Pleterski to catch up and was invited to Pleterski’s Burlington, Ont. mansion.
Wilson said Pleterski told him he was paying a $49,000 monthly mortgage and that he saw a many of “the newest Lamborghinis,“ worth roughly $600,000 each, at the property, as well as a McLaren he estimated would be worth $2 million in Pleterski’s garage.
Aiden Pleterski posted these photos from the Burlington, Ont. mansion where he was living on his Instagram account. (aiden.ptrs/Instagram)
He also said Pleterski told him the investment fund he was trading with was now between $30-$50 million.
“I’m literally sitting in his living room doing the math. How much he’s paying for his mortgage, how much he paid for these cars,” Wilson said. “He had been raking in a lot of money.“
After the meeting, Wilson decided to start investing with Pleterski and signed an initial investment contract for $300,000. A copy of it was shown in court and it included a guarantee that the principal investment would be returned over time if the money was lost.
“Everything just made sense. It was smooth. It made me feel very comfortable. So that’s why we invested,“ said Wilson.
“I considered him a friend. And his closest friends were investing with him, that I knew.“
Wilson went on to invest another $590,000 over four more contracts between November 2021 and February 2022. Wilson said Pleterski told him he was investing in gold and foreign exchange, not cryptocurrency. Wilson said he didn’t trust cryptocurrency and wouldn’t invest in it.
The court was shown text messages between the pair where Pleterski would update Wilson on the percentage of returns that week and also spreadsheets on each of the investments. One of those spreadsheets showed a $100,000 investment in mid-December 2021 more than doubled to about $241,300 by the end of March.
As the trial of 27-year-old Aiden Pleterski begins, the Crown is alleging that the so-called ‘Crypto King’ used investor money to fund his lavish lifestyle, including exotic cars, private jets and shopping sprees.
‘I need a lawyer’: Pleterski
In March, Wilson tried to get some of his money out. The jury saw text messages from Pleterski stringing him along for weeks — saying the money was coming, but it never did.
“Did you ever receive that money back?“ Crown prosecutor Scott Patterson asked Wilson.
“Nothing,“ Wilson responded.
Pleterski, who is representing himself at trial, told the court he did not have any questions for Wilson. He also decided not to cross-examine another investor, Olesya Chornenka, earlier Wednesday morning.
Pleterski told the judge, “I don’t have any questions, I need a lawyer.“
Two more investors, Neville Thompson and Braden Martyniuk, testified in court Wednesday. Both of them gave Pleterski more than $200,000 to trade in foreign exchange on their behalf after signing investment contracts that guaranteed their principal investment.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Shaun Nakatsuru is presiding over the trial of self-described ‘Crypto King’ Aiden Pleterski. (Pam Davies/CBC)
When Justice Shaun Nakatsuru asked if Pleterski had any questions for Thompson after his testimony, Pleterski replied, “Your Honour, I have no questions. I don’t know what to ask.”
$300M ‘slush fund’ to protect investor money
Martyniuk, who testified remotely, said he heard about Pleterski through two associates who had invested with him that he knew from his previous work with the fast-food chain Pita Pit. He said the three of them met Pleterski in early March 2022 at a Milestones restaurant in Whitby, Ont.
“Aiden, at the lunch meeting, stated that he would personally guarantee the principal [investment],” Martyniuk testified. “He said he had a $300 million slush fund to protect all his clients’ money.”
Martyniuk said his understanding was that Pleterski had previously made those funds by investing in cryptocurrency and that Pleterski was the self-described ‘Crypto King’. Martyniuk said Pleterski told him none of his own money would be invested in crypto if he gave it to Pleterski to trade, however.
Akshay Aurora is one of the Crown attorneys prosecuting Aiden Pleterski, who is on trial for fraud and money laundering. (Pam Davies/CBC)
Crown prosecutor Akshay Aurora asked Martyniuk where he had heard Pleterski being called the ‘Crypto King.’
“It was in some articles that were posted online through Google searches, which I came to find out were paid promotional pieces … they weren’t reported from any news outlets,” Martyniuk testified.
However, before he learned the articles were paid for, Martyniuk said reading them did influence his decision to invest $250,000 with Pleterski.
The Crown has made several references to one of these articles in court, which was published on Forbes’ website and referred to Pleterski as the ‘Crypto King.’ Wilson testified to seeing it after he made his own investment.
Martyniuk said he never got any of his money back from Pleterski.
As with other witnesses who testified Wednesday, Pleterski told the judge he had no questions for Martyniuk.
Pleterski’s trial is expected to continue Thursday with more testimony from investors.
