Luciano Valerio took out a total of $150,000 from his line of credit to invest with self-described “Crypto King” Aiden Pleterski in 2022.
The realtor was one of two investors who testified Tuesday, the first day of Pleterski’s fraud and money laundering trial in Ontario Superior Court in Toronto.
“I was assured by him that my initial investment would be protected because I knew his parents, was working with his parents — I’d be treated like family,” Valerio said.
Luciano Valerio, who invested with self-described ‘Crypto King’ Aiden Pleterski, testifed in Superior Court at Pleterski’s fraud and money laundering trial on Tuesday. (Pam Davies/CBC)
Instead, he told the court he never got any of his money back.
“It impacted the relationship with my wife,” Valerio said. “It hasn’t been easy.”
Pleterski, 27, is charged with fraud over $5,000 and money laundering. He’s pleaded not guilty.
In the Crown’s opening statement, prosecutor Scott Patterson alleged Pleterski guaranteed investors’ money given to him for cryptocurrency and foreign-exchange trading between July 2020 and July 2022, but never actually invested the funds.
‘Credit card bills that ran into the millions’
“Instead he used investor money to fund his lifestyle; exotic cars, flights on private jets, lavish shopping, credit card bills that ran into the millions — you’ll see his financials,” Patterson said.
In the Crown’s opening statement, prosecutor Scott Patterson alleged Aiden Pleterski spent investor funds on himself, including on exotic cars. (aiden_pleterski/Instagram)
Patterson told the jury the Crown plans to call about 15 witnesses, most of whom gave money to Pleterski, as well as a forensic accountant and a police witness.
Pleterski was financially supported by his parents until the pandemic and lived with them until June 2020, according to Patterson. The Crown alleges the COVID-19 benefit, which provided temporary financial support from the government, was Pleterski’s only source of income until he started soliciting investments in the summer of 2020.
“Money led to more money for Mr. Pleterski and his lifestyle became far more lavish as he spent investor money as if it was his own,” Patterson said.
Crown prosecutor Scott Patterson delivered his opening statement to the jury in the trial of Aiden Pleterski on Tuesday. (Pam Davies/CBC)
Valerio said he knew Pleterski from previous work at a car rental company and heard about Pleterski’s investment success from Pleterski’s parents, who were looking at real estate through Valerio.
The realtor met with Pleterski in January 2022 and invested $50,000 through Pleterski’s company, AP Private Equity Limited. Valerio said he signed an investment contract but was never provided a copy by Pleterski.
Spreadsheet showed investment grow nearly $40K
The court was shown a spreadsheet Valerio received from Pleterski updating him on his returns. Valerio said he believed it showed how much money he was making on his investment each week.
Most of the document listed a weekly return on investment of five per cent. By the week of April 11, the spreadsheet showed the $50,000 investment he made in January was worth just under $89,800.
Valerio said he gave Pleterski an additional $100,000 in early April 2022. Soon after, he told the court, he began having trouble reaching Pleterski about accessing his funds.
“In April, I asked to have $5,000 withdrawn and he said ‘that’s fine, give me three-four days,'” Valerio testified. “I texted again, there was no answer … things just went silent.”
Other investors were having similar problems by that time, according to the Crown.
“He gave them excuses, delaying the return of their money,” Patterson said. “Then telling investors the money was frozen … it wasn’t frozen, because Mr. Pleterski never invested the money, he’d simply spent it.”
Pleterski cross-examines investor
On cross-examination, Pleterski, who is representing himself at trial, disputed that Valerio never had a copy of his investment contract, saying it was part of Pleterski’s bankruptcy proceeding.
In response, Valerio said, “I signed a contract on the hood of your Audi. I asked for a copy and you told me you would send it as soon as you got back to your office and to this day I don’t have a copy and neither does the bankruptcy.”
Aiden Pleterski, who is representing himself at his jury trial, cross-examined his investor Luciano Valerio on Tuesday. (Pam Davies/CBC)
Pleterski also suggested Valerio knew he was trading in unregulated cryptocurrency.
A second Crown witness, Olesya Chornenka, testified Tuesday afternoon. She invested a total of $72,300 with Pleterski in July and August 2021.
Chornenka said that about three months after making the investments, she wanted her money back. The Crown showed the jury months’ worth of text messages between Chornenka and Pleterski in which she repeatedly requested her funds, including periods when Pleterski did not respond.
“At this point, I was thinking this must be a pyramid scheme, scam, and my money must have been used to pay other people,” Chornenka testified.
Justice Shaun Nakatsuru told the jury those comments were just Chornenka’s opinion and that they should not give them any further weight in their deliberations.
Aiden Pleterski leaves the Superior Court of Justice building, in Toronto, on Tuesday after the first day of his trial. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
Pleterski was arrested in May 2024, after a lengthy joint investigation by Durham Regional Police and the Ontario Securities Commission dubbed Project Swan. Police alleged Pleterski operated a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme involving funds he received from investors over a two-year period.
CBC Toronto has reported extensively on Pleterski since the summer of 2022, when some of his investors forced him into bankruptcy in an effort to recover millions of dollars they had given him.
The trial is scheduled to continue Wednesday, when Pleterski is expected to cross-examine Chornenka.