Ontario's self-proclaimed crypto tycoon has been arrested and charged with fraud.
Aiden Pretelski, 25, was charged May 2 with fraud over $5,000 and laundering proceeds of crime, according to an Oshawa court.
For more than a year and a half, Mr. Pretelsky's investors have been trying to trace more than $40 million they gave him for investments in cryptocurrencies and foreign exchange. The Toronto-based bankruptcy proceeding, which is being heard in Ontario Superior Court, has recovered about $3 million from about 160 investors.
Bankruptcy proceedings are managed by a licensed bankruptcy trustee, a federally regulated professional who is responsible for investigating the finances of a bankrupt person or business and managing their assets.
In this case, the trustee is from the accounting firm Grant Thornton. According to the trustee's investigation, Pretelsky made over 1,600 dollars for himself before the bankruptcy, including renting a private jet, going on vacations, adding luxury cars to his collection and renting out a lakefront mansion. It turned out that while they spent nearly $10,000, they invested only about 2% of their investors' funds.
CBC Toronto has reported extensively on Pretelski since he filed for bankruptcy in the summer of 2022. Last fall, Mr. Pretelsky was still jetting to England, Miami and Australia.
This will continue in the future.
