CALGARY – The former Canmore accountant accused of victimizing several people with what has been referred to as a “Ponzi scheme” will have to wait another month to discover his fate.
James "Russ" Neilson was charged in 2015 with defrauding about 40 clients of more than $5 million in relation to his Canmore-based business Abaca Solutions.
Neilson went through a two-and-a-half week trial earlier this year with the original decision date set on March 27, but after COVID-19 pandemic swept through the country and province, court officials adjourned all non-in-custody matters to mid-summer dates.
Neilson’s decision was set to last Friday (June 12) but as Alberta slowly rolls out the relaunch strategy – with Stage Two started on June 12 – the decision date has been adjourned once again to July 24.
Neilson was charged by RCMP in 2015 with three counts of fraud over $5,000, one charge of theft over $5,000 and laundering the proceeds of crime. He had additional charges filed against him in 2016 of fraud over $5,000, uttering a forged document and another charge of laundering the proceeds of crime.
The Crown withdrew one charge, use of a forged document and went forward with the remaining seven charges, including four counts of fraud over $5,000, two counts of proceeds of crime, and one count of theft over $5,000.
Neilson pleaded not guilty to all counts.
The former accountant was self-represented and attempted to adjourn the proceedings the first day of his trial by asking to change his election from a judge-only to have it heard by a jury. Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Kristine Eidsvik denied his application.
“You’ve made the election, you’ve had excellent counsel … I’ve read hundreds of pages this morning and in any event [the application] doesn’t matter. The fact is, you’ve made an appropriate election with counsel and here we are,” Justice Eidsvik said on the first day of trial.
During the trial, the judge heard from former investors, including one who shared a story of giving more than $180,000 to Neilson to put into his Canmore company.
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“I was working with advisors to try find out what was happening, we were trying to salvage the company [Abaca Solutions] … but we found out more and more that things weren’t happening and we had no option but to go to the police,” one witness testified.
Witnesses also explained how Neilson approached former clients, friends, and acquaintances to invest in his new accounting business where labour and services would be contracted to workers in the Philippines, resulting in a more cost-efficient model.
Former investors who testified also said they received little to no dividend payments and never received share certificates from the company.
During the trial, Neilson said he “adopted a hands-off and highly delegated style of management” while Crown prosecutor Steven Johnston revealed financial documents where investors money would go into the business bank account and the money would be used to pay Non-Sufficient Fund (NSF) fees, dividend cheques for other investors and sometimes used for significant cash withdrawals.
The Crown said the evidence was “overwhelming” and referred to the practice as a “Ponzi scheme.”
Neilson said he did not have involvement reviewing statements.
“The Crown has not presented any evidence on who was in charge of creating these documents,” Neilson said during his closing arguments.
The verdict is set for July 24.
Commencing June, July and August, 2020, the Court will be hearing some short, judge-alone Criminal trials in-person in COVID-safe courtrooms and some short, judge-alone Criminal trials via Webex video. View the announcement for details: https://t.co/Sv2vaopkXp #ABQB pic.twitter.com/Yade8TgjsP
— Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta (@QB_Alberta) May 22, 2020
