Here are five things you need to know this morning:

Canada’s Crypto King charged with fraud: Aiden Pleterski, the self-professed “Crypto King” of Canada, has been arrested and charged in connection with a $40 million fraud. Police in Whitby, Ont. said Pleterski and another man were arrested and charged on Tuesday following an investigation into a massive Ponzi scheme that began in the summer of 2022. Police will have more details at a news conference today, but what’s already out there on the story is fascinating. Pleterski was active on social media showing off his wealth and investment savvy, but investigators say it was all a house of cards. In U.S. bankruptcy proceedings, only about $3 million of funds have been recovered, out of tens of millions invested by hundreds of people. The legal developments in Canada today are the latest twist in a story that has had a number of them over the years and we’ll have lots of coverage throughout the day on BNN Bloomberg.

Wildfire situation in Fort McMurray worsening: The wildfire situation around the oilsands capital of Fort McMurray, Alberta has seemingly gone from bad to worse as a second blaze has ignited and is approaching the city from a new direction. Fire officials were mostly worried about a large blaze approaching from the southwest, but on Wednesday a new smaller fire flared up north of the city, closer to numerous oilsands operations. After a sprinkling of rain earlier in the week, the forecast doesn’t seem like it will be much help.

Walmart earnings beat on all fronts: Earnings for the world’s largest retailer came out this morning, and the numbers out of Walmart are being warmly received by investors. Same store sales grew 3.8 per cent during the quarter, better than Wall Street was expecting and far better than the trend at other big retailers like Home Depot. E-commerce specifically boomed, growing 22 per cent during the quarter. Walmart said the average customer receipt was flat, but the chain is booking more transactions than they were a year ago. The shares are up by more than five per cent in premarket trading.

Laurentian Bank cutting jobs again, exiting research biz: Quebec-based lender Laurentian Bank is overhauling its operations again, cutting another 50-odd jobs and exiting the equity research business. The bank has been struggling to identify its strategy for several quarters now, after a botched plan to potentially sell itself found no viable suitors. The Montreal-based bank cut two per cent of its 3,000 workers as recently as December, and the cuts today amount to roughly 50 positions, Bloomberg reports. Laurentian told clients in a note that it was suspending research coverage on about 80 companies; mostly small-cap mining and resource firms.

Canadian crude plays starring role in long and winding journey of a single oil shipment: Bloomberg has a fantastic read today about the state of the global crude market, and how a sudden dearth of heavy crude is a major opportunity for Canada and its latest pipeline. Indian refinery Reliance Industries recently bought about 2 million barrels of heavy crude from Canada, but instead of loading the shipment on to a single ship, the oil was loaded on to four smaller tankers at Burnaby, B.C.’s port because of local depth restrictions. The quartet of tankers will now meet in the middle of the ocean to load their cargo on to one single Very Large Crude Carrier before embarking on the 19,000-kilometre trek across the Pacific. Typically, a buyer in India might buy that crude from places like Venezuela, Mexico or even OPEC, but heavy blends from those suppliers are hard to find right now, which is boosting demand for Canada’s product. It’s excellent timing for the recently-opened Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion, even if the tanker side of things is more complicated than all parties might have preferred.