A Parksville man has been handed the longest sentence ever imposed following a criminal investigation by the British Columbia Securities Commission.
James Warring Minnie, 56, who is also known as Terry James Minnie, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison in provincial court in Victoria on May 8 after being convicted of two counts of criminal fraud over $5,000.
The charges stemmed from money he solicited from people between 2014 and 2016. Minnie was arrested at the Beach Acres Resort in Parksville in October 2017 by the Oceanside RCMP.
With time served, he has eight months left on his sentence.
According to the BCSC, Minnie defrauded two victims out of more than $500,000 between 2014 and 2016 by informing them that their money would pay the administrative expenses of a Venezuelan hedge fund that was shutting down.
However, the Venezuelan hedge fund never even existed and Minnie spent the majority of it on himself, staying at upscale hotels, restaurant meals, and liquor. He also used the money to make retail purchases and withdraw large qualities of cash.
The two victims were prior victims of Minnie, who, in 2007, was convicted of six counts of fraud and one count of theft for his role in a scheme that invested in a purported lumber project in Papua New Guinea that resulted in at least $1.8 million in investor losses.
He was sentenced to five years in prison in that case, according to the BCSC release.
BCSC said Minnie told the two victims that they could recover their losses from the Papua New Guinea project by investing in the Venezuelan hedge fund.
Minnie has been ordered to repay the victims a total of $543,220 in restitution. He is also prohibited from contacting either of the victims and is permanently banned from trading or purchasing securities or engaging in investor relation activities.
CHEK News
