Alleged Ontario crypto fraudster charged in intimate partner violence case
CBC
Aiden Pleterski, the self-styled "crypto king" accused in Ontario of defrauding investors out of tens of millions of dollars, has been arrested and faces multiple charges in an alleged case of intimate partner violence, CBC News has learned.
A charge sheet filed in a Newmarket, Ont., court shows police arrested Pleterski, 26, on Monday. He faces seven new charges, including assault, forcible confinement and uttering threats, in connection with a series of alleged incidents all involving a woman in Vaughan last week.
York Regional Police said Pleterski was placed in custody after surrendering himself at a police station in Vaughan. "We can only provide very limited information as to protect the victim," Const. James Dickson said in an email.
According to the charge sheet, Pleterski is accused of assaulting the woman twice and forcibly confining her twice in the span of three days. He's also accused of unlawfully entering a Vaughan condo to commit an indictable offence and harassing the complainant to the point where she feared for her safety.
Pleterski was granted bail Monday after his parents pledged $7,500. He was ordered not to have any contact with the complainant and to remain at his parents' home in Whitby every night.
Public records show Pleterski was arrested in Polk County, Florida, in June 2021 in a separate alleged case of domestic violence. Prosecutors later dropped the charges of battery and false imprisonment.
Last May, Durham police charged Pleterski with fraud and money laundering in what the agency's chief described as the "largest fraud investigation" the region had ever seen.
CBC Toronto has reported extensively on Pleterski since the summer of 2022, when he was forced into bankruptcy. His investors have been trying to track down up to $40 million they gave him to invest in cryptocurrencies and foreign exchanges — although only about $27 million in proven claims were admitted to bankruptcy proceedings.
Police allege Pleterski solicited funds from investors, promising massive profits and guaranteeing no losses from their original investment.
A bankruptcy trustee's investigation previously found that Pleterski had invested less than two per cent of the investors' funds while spending nearly $16 million on himself — renting private jets, going on vacations, adding luxury cars to his collection and leasing a lakefront mansion.
Pleterski has denied wrongdoing in the fraud case. The allegations against him have not been proven in court.
Pleterski's lawyer Cosmo Galluzzo did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday afternoon.
The alleged assault and fraud cases are both scheduled to return to court later this month.
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