What the jury didn’t hear at trial of Ontario ‘Crypto King’ - Toronto Star

The behind the scenes story of one of the most unusual criminal trials in recent memory.

The Toronto jury deciding if Aiden Pleterski committed fraud repeatedly heard him say he needed a lawyer.

What jurors did not know was why he was defending himself — nor that the trial judge believed Pleterski’s repeated refusal to participate in his trial was a calculated attempt to lay the groundwork for an appeal.

Pleterski came to broader public attention as Ontario’s self‑styled “Crypto King” after Durham Regional Police arrested him for fraud on May 14, 2024, alleging he used investors’ money to bankroll a lavish lifestyle rather than trade in cryptocurrency and foreign‑exchange markets, as he had promised.

The Crown told the jury that Pleterski was running a classic Ponzi scheme, luring new investors with claims of fabulous returns — up to one per cent each day — while never actually investing their money. A forensic accountant who audited Pleterski’s bank accounts testified that between 2020 and 2022, he spent about $16 million of $40 million investor money on himself, including blowing $5.6 million on luxury vehicles, $870,000 on travel and private jets, another $5 million to pay off credit card charges — along with forking over $16 million in payouts to investors from the funds he received. 

Outside the jury’s presence, Pleterski and Superior Court Justice Shaun Nakatsuru clashed — always politely — over whether he was unable to defend himself or choosing not to. Pleterski said he was overwhelmed and didn’t know what he was doing, and offered this assessment of his courtroom abilities the one and only time he tried to conduct a cross-examination: “I sounded like an idiot up there.”

The judge, however, concluded he was sophisticated enough to proceed and warned that his conduct appeared “tactical.”

Aiden Pleterski’s lavish “Crypto King” persona drew in scores of investors. The Crown called it a classic Ponzi scheme.