‘Cryptoking’ Aiden Pleterski kidnapped, held for ransom: report

News

By means of Stephanie Pagones

March 26, 2023 | 03:00

A self-proclaimed “crypto king” was reportedly kidnapped, reportedly enduring days of torture and abuse by attackers who demanded a multi-million dollar ransom.

Aiden Pleterski, 23, of Ontario, Canada, was “kidnapped” from Toronto in December and held hostage by kidnappers demanding at least $3 million, his father and associates said, CTV News Toronto reported.

Details of the kidnapping were revealed in court documents related to a bankruptcy proceeding involving millions of dollars that Pleterski allegedly spent living lavishly rather than investing.

“They basically held him for about three days, drove him around different parts of Southern Ontario, beat him, tortured him, had him make specific phone calls to specific people. I was not one of those people he was allowed to contact,” his father, who was not identified, said in December.

While being held captive, Pleterski contacted his landlord asking for $3 million, the court documents said.

“I got several calls from Aiden, but it was late at night,” the landlord reportedly said, “and around 1:30 a.m. I finally had enough and took the call.”

The landlord recounted how Pleterski said he couldn’t call anyone else, to which he replied, “There’s absolutely nothing I can do.”

Pleterski has been embroiled in a bankruptcy controversy in which he was reportedly asked to invest more than $40 million — and instead spent nearly $16 million on lavish vacations, expensive cars and private jets, according to CTV News.

Curator Rob Stelzer told CTV Pleterski “ran a business where he told people he would invest their money and that’s not what happened.”

“He really didn’t do what he said he was going to do,” Stelzer added.

In early December, Stelzer told CTV that he was informed by Toronto police that Pleterski had been kidnapped, adding, “I mean, he obviously owes a lot of people a lot of money.”

According to the report, Pleterski actually invested less than 2% of the money.