A member of Ontario's so-called "crypto kingpin" has been sentenced to five months in prison for refusing to hand over an iPhone to investigators and destroying data, a judge said.
Colin Murphy, 27, was arrested Friday and is scheduled to be formally sentenced in Lindsey, Ont. He was sent to prison on February 8 for contempt of court.
Investor Craig Sutherland was previously ordered to pay $120,000 and return his Porsche, Ford truck and gold firearm, according to a ruling in November.
Murphy was identified in court and appeared Friday wearing light jeans and a military green hoodie.
This is the first criminal charge related to 25-year-old Aiden Platerski's alleged Ponzi scheme.
Sutherland filed a civil suit against Murphy in December 2022, but moved the case to criminal jurisdiction after there was no evidence from sheriffs that Murphy had gone undercover and issued a restraining order against his property last January, the judge ruled. .
"This was a deliberate breach of a court order," Judge O'Connell said in Friday's sentencing.
Investors say Murphy ran a Ponzi scheme in parallel with Pletersky. Platersky was forced to file for bankruptcy in August 2022 after defrauding hundreds of investors of more than $40 million.
"I need money," Sutherland said Friday as she sat next to her lawyer in a black leather jacket.
Colin Murphy is headed to court in Oshawa following a $120,000 lawsuit.
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Murphy surrendered his truck and Porsche, which will be scrapped next month. But the court heard he refused to hand over the gun after insisting he send proof of his license ahead of a meeting with a firearms specialist later this week.
"I'm not going to meet with you and you can cry in court," Murphy wrote in a Jan. 31 email to the firearms expert that the judge read in court Friday.
Judge O'Connell said: "These emails really show an incredible amount of courage." "To me, it almost shows that you don't understand the seriousness of this."
During sentencing, the judge said Murphy's behavior often "raised his middle finger" and "turned his nose up" in court.
How did it develop?
In the summer of 2021, Murphy took the Porsche Sutherland to the Oshawa track, he said in an interview with W5 that began on February 3.
Murphy went there to raise thousands of dollars in cash, which he said would be invested in cryptocurrencies.
"It was very impressive," Sutherland said in an exclusive interview. He was fascinated by stories of Murphy's yachts and a fortune that generated up to eight percent of his weekly income.
Craig Sutherland told W5 he initially transferred $40,000 in cash and over four months a total of $270,000 to Colin Murphy. (W5 "Crypto Bros")
"I thought he was doing something right with a Porsche," he said.
He said Sutherland initially transferred $40,000 in cash and transferred a total of $270,000 over four months.
When Sutherland Platersky, the so-called "cryptocurrency king," met with Murphy at a racetrack in southwestern Ontario, he said he was blown away by the meeting.
"When I saw Aiden in his McLaren, I was sure it was real, these guys have money and I should probably pay more because these guys make a lot of money," said Sutherland.
Sutherland was told that his investment in Murphy had risen to $878,000.
"When the communication started to slow down and there were no more discussions about my percentage of income ... that's when I started to worry," Sutherland said.
He said he asked Murphy to withdraw his initial $120,000 investment and also approached Platerski directly, but both pointed the finger at each other and said the other had lost his money.
Colin Murphy leaves the Oshawa courthouse as W5's Avery Haynes questions him about his upcoming sentence.
"I don't think I trusted anyone at the time because when things started to fall apart, if it was legal, there would be money," Sutherland said.
While Murphy was sentenced to five months in prison, Platerski's bankruptcy proceedings are approaching 20 months.
W5 has learned that a joint task force has been formed to investigate Platersky, but the Durham Regional Police Service and the Ontario Securities Commission have not yet confirmed whether criminal fraud charges could result, which are pending. offer investment advice. Travel live on Instagram and around the world.
This week, W5 investigates the so-called "Cryptocurrency King" Aiden Pletersky. You can catch "The Crypto Bros" on Saturdays at 7pm EST