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Verdict postponed in fraud trial of former Canmore accountant

“As a result of the pandemic response most out of custody criminal matters in the Court of Queens Bench are being adjourned to set [Criminal Appearance Court] dates depending on the week of the matter, so Neilson goes to June."
COURT

CALGARY – The verdict in the fraud trial of James 'Russ' Neilson has been postponed, as the court system takes efforts to minimize appearances for out-of-custody criminal matters during the COVID-19 public health crisis. 

The former Canmore accountant was charged in 2015 with defrauding about 40 clients of approximately $5.5 million and went to trial earlier this year. 

Court of Queen's Bench Justice Kristine Eidsvik was set to deliver her decision Friday (March 27), but the matter has been adjourned to June 12. 

“As a result of the pandemic response most out-of-custody criminal matters in the Court of Queens Bench are being adjourned to set [Criminal Appearance Court] dates depending on the week of the matter, so Neilson goes to June … we hope that on that date we will be able to set the new date for a verdict to be delivered,” Crown Prosecutor Steven Johnston explained in an email. 

Neilson went through a two-and-a-half week judge-only trial earlier this year. The former accountant attempted to adjourn the trial in December, but was denied his application. 

He was self represented, and attempted to change his election from judge-only trial to have it heard by a jury on the first day of his scheduled trial. 

He also asked Eidsvik to adjourn the trial, but his application was denied. 

"You've known now for a long time this trial was scheduled today and you've tried to bring a pre-trial application ... but as far as pre-trial applications you were done – that's the dealio as far as I can see," Eidsvik said on Jan. 6.

"You've made the election and you've got your judge, so let's go. Let's get it done.”

During trial, the Judge heard from witnesses called by the Crown including investors who shared stories of putting more than $180,000 into Neilson's company, Abaca Solutions.

Witnesses 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 said they received little to no dividend payments and never received share certificates from the company. 

“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 during the trial.  

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.

During the closing arguments, Neilson said he “adopted a hands-off and highly delegated style of management.”

Meanwhile, the Crown revealed financial documents during its closing statement 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.

Johnston said the evidence was “overwhelming” and referred to the practice as a “Ponzi scheme.”  

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