27 March 2023 , 17:56
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A man dubbed a 'crypto king' was allegedly kidnapped and tortured while held for ransom.
The father of Aiden Pleterski, 23, told a court in December his son was allegedly taken from the downtown area of Toronto, Canada also in December last year.
The alleged kidnappers were demanding $3million (£1.78million) according to the dad and associates, CTV News Toronto reported, as Mr Pleterski was driven around the province of Ontario for a number of days.
The dad, not identified, said: "They basically held him for approximately three days, drove him around different, various parts of southern Ontario, beat him, tortured him, allowed him to make specific phone calls to specific people only.
Aiden Pleterski (right) was allegedly kidnapped and tortured (Aiden Pleterski/instagram)"I was not one of those people that he was allowed to contact."
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Mr Pleterski's landlord said he received "multiple calls from Aiden, but it was late at night."
The court papers reported the landlord adding: "Then at around 1:30 a.m., I finally had enough, and I picked up the call..."
The landlord was told by Mr Pleterski that there was nobody else he could call, but had to tell the young man that "There’s absolutely nothing I can do."
Mr Pletseski is currently at the centre of a bankruptcy scandal in which he is alleged to have been asked to invest around $40million (£23.75million) but spent $16million (£9.5million) of it on a luxury lifestyle that included private planes, holidays and expensive cars.
Amoong his portfolio of cars was the luxury McLaren Senna, bought for $1.6million (£950,000) in September 2021.
Mr Pleterski is alleged to have spent millions people invested with him on a luxury lifestyle (Aiden Pleterski/instagram)Two properties worth millions - supported by a $500,000 (£296,000) deposit - were also purchased, according to the documents.
The bankruptcy trustee appointed to the case, Rob Stelzer, told CTV: "Aiden ran a business in which 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."
Mr Stelzer said he was told in December by Toronto police that Mr Pleterski had been kidnapped.
Court documents say Mr Pleterski was released after being told to come up with the money demanded from him quickly.
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His father told the court he and Mr Pleterski's mother thought he was operating an investment business successfully.
He said: "I knew when he was in high school, he was playing games upstairs on his computer just like any other teenager."
The dad was then asked if he knew his son was reading in cryptocurrency, to which he replied: "At some point, yes."
Mr Stelzer alleges Mr Pletski's mum and dad benefitted over $1.1 million (£650,00) from their son’s shame. Their lawyer Gary Caplan said the couple reached a settlement with a trustee.
They have agreed to return an Audi S5 and Volkswagen Atlas and must pay $812,000 (£482,000) on or before June 30.
Recently, Mr Stelzer said they were waiting for more people to come forward claiming they had lost money at the hands of Mr Pleterski's scheme.
Toronto realtor Sacha Singh filed court documents to gain back the $4.56million (£2.71million) he invested, the Mail reports.
An alleged victim of Mr Pleterski said she invested $60,000 (£35,000) and he lost all but $10,000 (£5,940) of it.
She claimed to CBC News: "What Aiden has done, I think, is awful — and I don't know how he can live with himself.