A Toronto jury delivered a swift guilty verdict on Thursday against 27-year-old self-styled “Crypto King” Aiden Pleterski, finding him responsible for defrauding dozens of investors out of more than C$36 million, funds he squandered on a wildly lavish lifestyle of private jet travel, luxury vehicles, and high-end real estate. The jury reached its decision after only a few hours of deliberation, convicting Pleterski on a single count of fraud exceeding C$5,000, following a weeks-long Ontario Superior Court trial that laid bare the full scope of his deceptive scheme. The case originated from a 16-month joint investigation launched by Durham Regional Police and the Ontario Securities Commission, which led to initial charges of fraud and money laundering against Pleterski in May 2024; the money laundering count was subsequently dropped ahead of the trial. At the time charges were filed, Durham Regional Police Chief Peter Moreira flagged the case as potentially the largest fraud operation ever uncovered in the region. During proceedings, Crown prosecutors called more than a dozen witnesses, including defrauded investors, forensic accountants, and financial industry experts, who documented how Pleterski siphoned funds entrusted to his firm AP Private Equity Limited for personal use. Evidence presented in court showed that Pleterski burned through roughly half of the C$36 million he stole, allocating C$5.6 million to a fleet of luxury vehicles, C$45,000 per month for a sprawling lakefront mansion in Burlington, Ontario, and amassing C$4.9 million in unpaid credit card bills. Additional records uncovered during bankruptcy proceedings revealed he also purchased high-end gifts for his own parents, who had themselves invested C$50,000 in his purported cryptocurrency venture, including a McLaren, a BMW, a 2017 Bentley Bentayga, a Louis Vuitton handbag, and a Burberry coat. Pleterski, who had pleaded not guilty, chose to represent himself throughout the trial, only cross-examining one witness, declining to present any exculpatory evidence, and opting not to take the stand in his own defense. In his closing arguments on Wednesday, Crown prosecutor Akshay Aurora dismissed Pleterski’s self-assigned “Crypto King” moniker entirely. “He was no Crypto King. He was a thief. A thief who stole investor money and used it as he pleased,” Aurora told the jury, as documented by local outlet CBC News. The elaborate scam began to unravel in December 2022, when Pleterski was abducted from a downtown Toronto street in the middle of the night by unknown captors who demanded a massive ransom for his release. He was freed three days later, having endured severe torture including waterboarding, cigarette burns, and repeated beatings with golf clubs, and a distressing video of a bruised, bloodied Pleterski apologizing to his investors for ruining their lives later circulated publicly. Pleterski is scheduled to return to court on November 13 for a formal sentencing hearing, where he will learn the full penalty for his crimes.