Whitby: 'Crypto King' found guilty of fraud at Toronto trial, sentencing Nov. 13

Whitby's Aiden Pleterski, the self-described 'Crypto King,' was found guilty of fraud at his Toronto trial on Thursday morning, Oct. 29, 2026, INsauga reports. Pleterski had pleaded not guilty and represented himself at trial, with his parents present. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 13, and he will be under house arrest until then, with his parents acting as sureties; he has hired Marco Sciarra to represent him at sentencing.

Investors gave Pleterski more than $36 million for trading on the platform FXChoice, and he spent more than $16 million of that on himself, including a rented house in Burlington, luxury cars and high-end watches and jewelry, according to the report. Crown financial records showed he eventually returned $16.1 million to investors, while only about $2 million in goods, including Lamborghini and McLaren cars, was recovered at his arrest two years ago. A second charge, money laundering, was dropped by the Crown.

Durham Regional Police launched 'Project Swan' in 2022, with investigators from Halton, Toronto and York police, the OPP, the Canada Border Services Agency and the Ontario Securities Commission also involved, and the case became the largest fraud case in the region's history, the report says. Oshawa's Colin Murphy is named as co-accused, with investigators alleging a Ponzi-style arrangement in which later investors' money was used to pay earlier ones.