# Aiden Pleterski Tells Toronto Jury He Is Innocent Before Deliberations By Riza Dagoc Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/regulation/43503 Published: 2026-10-29T12:23:12.000Z Updated: 2026-10-29T12:23:12.000Z Section: Regulation > Crown prosecutor Akshay Aurora accused Pleterski of using investor funds to repay others and cover personal expenses. Jurors are expected to deliberate Thursday. Defendant Aiden Pleterski told a Toronto jury Wednesday that he was innocent of fraud, as jurors moved toward weighing accusations about how he handled investor money. Pleterski faces one count of fraud over $5,000. The Crown dropped a money-laundering count after finishing its case. He represented himself in the Ontario Superior Court trial, questioned one of the prosecution’s 14 witnesses and did not testify or call evidence in his defense. His remarks Wednesday were his first direct address to the jury. “I am innocent of these charges,” he said. “That is why I pled not guilty.” He also said he believed the charges would have been disproved if he had not been forced to represent himself. Crown prosecutor Akshay Aurora spent about 90 minutes on his closing argument and called Pleterski a thief. Aurora alleged that Pleterski used investors’ money to repay other investors, buy cars, take private-jet flights and pay credit-card bills. He also told jurors none of the money reached FXChoice, the trading platform investors had been told would handle their funds. Ontario Securities Commission forensic accountant Albert Ciorma testified that his audit found no investor funds had gone to FXChoice. The jury heard an audio recording in which Pleterski acknowledged that a $311 million fund he had shown investors through screenshots and video in spring 2022 did not exist. Aurora said Pleterski lost money through his own trading from July 2020 to July 2022. He told jurors just $4,000 entered Pleterski’s accounts from crypto or foreign-exchange sources, and that the account presented to investors as holding $311 million had peaked at $12,000. Aurora also cited investor Sacha Singh, who gave Pleterski $1.3 million and later received $700,000 from the same account. The [charges filed in May 2024]() followed allegations that Pleterski solicited investments in 2021 and 2022 by promising large weekly profits through digital-asset trading. The case took more than two years to reach trial. A conviction on the remaining fraud count could carry up to 14 years in prison. Jurors are expected to begin deliberating Thursday morning ET after Justice Shaun Nakatsuru finishes instructing them. ## Links in this article - [charges filed in May 2024](https://www.tokenpost.com/news/regulation/25078)