A Toronto fraud trial heard how a real estate developer entrusted more than $4.5 million to Aiden Pleterski after receiving reports of substantial investment returns, only to discover that his account’s reported value may not have reflected actual trading profits.
Real estate developer Sacha Singh testified virtually before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Wednesday, describing how he came to invest millions with self-proclaimed “Crypto King” Aiden Pleterski. Singh first met Pleterski at a Pickering restaurant in spring 2021 after another investor introduced them. Despite Pleterski’s young age, Singh believed he had the potential to become a successful cryptocurrency trader. He initially invested $10,000 in April 2021 before signing 22 additional investment contracts over the following 10 months. Together, those agreements totalled more than $4.5 million, making Singh the largest investor among the 11 Crown witnesses who had testified at that point. Pleterski, 27, faces charges of fraud over $5,000 and money laundering. He has pleaded not guilty and is representing himself.
Singh told the court that Pleterski regularly sent him updates showing weekly investment gains ranging from three to nearly 11 percent. He tracked those figures in a spreadsheet, calculating that his investments had grown to more than $26 million by March 2022. The reported profits encouraged him to continue contributing money. Singh also testified that he received $700,000 after requesting a $1-million withdrawal in November 2021, while Pleterski retained the remaining $300,000 as a contractual trading fee. That payment reinforced Singh’s confidence in the operation. However, when Crown prosecutor Scott Patterson asked whether he would have continued investing had he known the withdrawal came from his own previously deposited funds, Singh answered that he would not.
Concerns emerged in early 2022 when Singh attempted to withdraw additional money. He testified that Pleterski became increasingly difficult to contact and repeatedly attributed payment delays to FXChoice, the foreign exchange trading platform he claimed to use. Singh began recording their telephone conversations. In one recording played in court, Pleterski maintained that the earlier $700,000 withdrawal had come from FXChoice but claimed he had subsequently started paying investors from his personal funds because the platform was withholding payments. He also told Singh that he was selling assets to meet withdrawal requests and could no longer afford to continue covering the payments himself.
The court also heard evidence concerning an alleged trading account balance exceeding $311 million. Singh testified that fellow investor Mitchell Learning showed him a video purportedly displaying that amount in Pleterski’s FXChoice account. Learning, who testified earlier in the trial, described visiting Pleterski’s Burlington waterfront mansion in June 2022 to verify his financial claims. After accessing Pleterski’s email account, Learning said he discovered a message confirming that the FXChoice account had been deleted. Learning further testified that Pleterski later described losing substantial sums through increasingly risky trades before beginning what Learning characterized as a Ponzi scheme. These statements form part of the evidence before the court and have not been established as findings of fact.
Prosecutors allege Pleterski collected investors’ money under the promise of protected trading opportunities but instead spent substantial amounts on luxury vehicles, private jet travel, shopping and personal credit card expenses. The Crown maintains that he did not invest the funds as represented. Durham Regional Police and the Ontario Securities Commission investigated the alleged scheme before Pleterski’s arrest in May 2024. During Wednesday’s proceedings, Pleterski declined to cross-examine Singh, telling Justice Shaun Nakatsuru that he lacked the legal knowledge to challenge perceived inconsistencies in the testimony. The trial is expected to continue Friday as the Crown presents further evidence concerning the alleged multimillion-dollar investment fraud.
