Some of Aiden Pleterski’s alleged victims testified Wednesday about meeting the Whitby man, giving him hundreds of thousands of dollars to invest and trusting Pleterski would do what he said he would do.
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he → allege → dollars
Pleterski is charged with fraud over $5,000 and money laundering and is represented.
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Pleterski → charge → 5,000
The 27-year-old has pleaded not guilty.
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old → plead → ?
Braden Martyniuk testified he had read articles about Pleterski in which he described himself as “The Crypto King” and said that influenced his decision to invest.
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that → testify → decision
Martyniuk said he and Pleterski shared a mutual friend.
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he → say → friend
He met with Pleterski and was told if he invested, his money would go towards foreign exchange trading.
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money → meet → trading
“He promised returns of three percent a week, compounding every week,” said Martyniuk who believed Pleterski was trading on a platform called Forex.
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Pleterski → promise → platform
“He said there was no risk to the initial investment, and all his clients were fully covered.”
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clients → say → investment
Martyniuk added Pleterski told him he had a $300-million slush fund, explaining he believed that meant Pleleterski had money in reserves to protect all his clients.
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Pleleterski → add → clients
Martyniuk said he wired him $250,000 and signed a contract.
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he → say → contract
He said when he reached out to Pleterski see if he could get his money back in May or June 2022, he got nothing.
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he → say → nothing
In his opening address Tuesday, Crown Counsel Scott Patterson told the jury that up until June 2020, Pleterski was living at his parents’ house in Whitby, worked at a rental agency and drove a Honda Civic.
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Pleterski → open → Civic
“His parents supported him financially until Covid when he began receiving the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) of $500/week,” said Patterson.
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Patterson → support → 500
Patterson told the jury that in the middle of 2020, Pleterski began soliciting money from people and told them that he would take 30 percent of the capital gains.
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he → tell → gains
He told them he had a system that he would never lose more than two percent and targeted five percent gains.
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he → tell → gains
He also told some investors that he was incredibly wealthy.
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he → tell → investors
Patterson said investors trusted him and believed he would do what he said he would do with their money.
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he → say → money
“Instead, he used investor money to fund his lifestyle: exotic cars, private jets, lavish shopping and credit card bills that ran into the millions,” said Patterson who told the jury they will see Pleterski’s financials.
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they → use → financials
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Patterson said things began to fall apart in the spring of 2022 when investors wanted to get their money out.
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investors → get → money
“But Mr. Pleterski had no money to give.
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Pleterski → have → money
As you’ll hear, he gave excuses.
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he → hear → excuses
Delaying the return of money then telling investors that their money was frozen in his foreign exchange account.
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money → delay → account
But as you’ll both see and hear in evidence, that didn’t happen.
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that → see → evidence
It wasn’t frozen because Pleterski never invested the money.
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Pleterski → freeze → money
He had simply spent it” said Patterson, who told the jury Pleterski spent investor money as if it was his own.
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it → spend → money
Stewart Wilson, who manages a high-end car rental company, said he met Pleterski when he was only 20 or 21, saying he wanted to rent a vehicle and rented him a half a dozen high-end vehicles in 2019.
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he → manage → 2019
He knew Pleterski lived in a house in Whitby on a cul-de-sac which he had gone to before.
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he → know → which
Wilson said he had not seen Pleterski for a year and randomly ran into him in a parking lot downtown in the fall of 2020.
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he → say → 2020
Wilson testified Pleterski told him he’d bought an Audi R8 and said he was trading.
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he → testify → R8
It seemed like everything was going good for him.”
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everything → seem → him
Wilson said he ultimately set up a meeting with Pleterski in 2021 after seeing through social media that he was doing well.
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he → say → media
“He didn’t try to entice me at all in joining which I thought was pretty cool.
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I → try → joining
He was doing everything on his own,” said Wilson referring to the fact that Pleterski was living in a big house on the Lake Shore and had bought himself “very extravagant cars”.
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Pleterski → do → cars
Wilson said after learning Pleterski was trading for close friends and family, and believing people were getting good returns, he reached out to him in November 2021.
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he → say → November
Wilson said Pleterski invited him to come by his new house.
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Pleterski → say → house
“At that point, I went to the mansion,” said Wilson, describing it as about 8,000-square-foot on the waterfront in Burlington.
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Wilson → go → Burlington
“He said purchased it
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He → purchase → it
I said he was crazy.”
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he → say → ?
Wilson said he had Lamborghinis, Audis and a McLaren worth about $2 million parked in the garage.
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Lamborghinis → say → garage
“I was quite impressed,” Wilson said.
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Wilson → impress → ?
…and 26 more, not listed.
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