Investment

Fraud, or bad investment? Edmonton psychotherapist lost $350k in alleged investment scheme, court hears during trial’s closing arguments

Published

2 years ago

April 4, 2023

Ross Bayne and Mary Cooney are on trial in the Edmonton Court of King’s Bench for fraud after Beatrijs Penn agreed to give them $350,000 over four years, believing she was investing in projects in the developing world. Photo by David Bloom /David Bloom/Postmedia

A judge is being asked to decide whether a woman who gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to an Edmonton man was defrauded, or simply made a bad investment.

Ross Bayne and Mary Cooney are on trial for fraud after Beatrijs Penn agreed to give them $350,000 over four years for an alleged debt financing scheme in the developing world.

Crown prosecutors say Penn — a Dutch psychotherapist who moved to Canada after attending a seminar by embattled spiritual leader John de Ruiter — was promised her money would go to humanitarian projects, and that she would receive a 100 per cent interest rate in return.

Instead, “her money is gone,” the Crown said in its written arguments.

Court of King’s Bench Justice Shaina Leonard heard closing arguments in the case Tuesday.

Penn, who is in her 60s, came to Canada in 2009 to attend a seminar by John de Ruiter, a self-appointed spiritual leader currently facing charges of sexual assault in an unrelated case. She moved to Canada permanently in 2010 after attending a second de Ruiter seminar.

Penn first met Cooney in October 2012 at a workshop by a Dr. Jentschura, a self-described health entrepreneur. They later met for coffee and discussed topics such as “alternative” cancer therapies and de Ruiter’s teachings.

During that conversation, Penn revealed she had previously given a 400,000 euro loan to a college and had to engage in litigation to get the money back. Cooney then told Penn she knew someone who could help her invest in humanitarian projects, and introduced her to Bayne.

At the time of their February 2013 meeting, Bayne was bankrupt after losing a 2012 lawsuit and owed creditors over $600,000. According to the Crown’s brief, Bayne explained to Penn that he was creating an entity to fund projects in the developing world, giving the example of sustainable housing projects in Africa, without “leaving a heavy debt burden on those who could not afford it.” He allegedly promised Penn a 100 per cent rate of return. Penn testified the money, which she payed in several instalments between 2013 and 2017, would go to an entity called Grace Endowment.

Cooney took what the Crown described as a 10 per cent “cut.”

During closing arguments, Bayne’s lawyer, Steven Fix, argued the Crown failed to prove Penn was defrauded. He said Leonard must be convinced Penn “was somehow deceived” in order to convict.

“It’s not about whether this was a good investment, whether a reasonable person in law would make that investment,” he said. He said Bayne still believes his ideas are viable, and that the deal simply fell through.

“For all of the Teslas and Franklins and Wright brothers, there were hundreds who failed with the same ideas,” Fix said. “The difference between a visionary and a dreamer is someone who closes a deal.”

Fix added that even if Bayne took steps to move the money in a way to defeat his creditors, that doesn’t mean Penn was defrauded.

Speaking for Cooney, defence lawyer Marshall Hopkins also argued for acquittal. He said administrative fees “are not at all uncommon in the world of investment brokering.”

“This was an ill-advised investment that went bad. And that happens to people, unfortunately, all the time,” Hopkins said. “She went into this with her eyes open. She wasn’t misled.”

The Crown, on the other hand, said the evidence proves Penn was defrauded. Julie Snowdon and Aaron Rankin argued Bayne and Cooney took advantage of a lonely, older woman who was a new immigrant to Canada. It said Bayne — who claimed he was attempting to piece together multi-million dollar financial deals and was close to accessing “billions” in assets locked in a safe in New York — was in fact an undischarged bankrupt working as a part-time landscaper.

The Crown claimed Bayne is a “classic conman,” able to “spin a web of obfuscation and mumbo-jumbo, a patter of faux-sophisticated claptrap intended to give him the veneer of a person of knowledge and insight, forever on the cusp of some sort of breakthrough.”

“For a period of four years, they solicited money from her, while assuring her that she would be repaid with significant interest,” the Crown concluded. “There was never any realistic possibility that she would be.”

Leonard will give her decision July 6.

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Investment

Tesla shares soar more than 14% as Trump win is seen boosting Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company

Published

3 days ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Tesla soared Wednesday as investors bet that the electric vehicle maker and its CEO Elon Musk will benefit from Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors. Trump’s plans for extensive tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.

“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, in a note to investors. “This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players.”

Tesla shares jumped 14.8% Wednesday while shares of rival electric vehicle makers tumbled. Nio, based in Shanghai, fell 5.3%. Shares of electric truck maker Rivian dropped 8.3% and Lucid Group fell 5.3%.

Tesla dominates sales of electric vehicles in the U.S, with 48.9% in market share through the middle of 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Subsidies for clean energy are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It included tax credits for manufacturing, along with tax credits for consumers of electric vehicles.

Musk was one of Trump’s biggest donors, spending at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee. He also pledged to give away $1 million a day to voters signing a petition for his political action committee.

In some ways, it has been a rocky year for Tesla, with sales and profit declining through the first half of the year. Profit did rise 17.3% in the third quarter.

The U.S. opened an investigation into the company’s “Full Self-Driving” system after reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.

And investors sent company shares tumbling last month after Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, seeing not much progress at Tesla on autonomous vehicles while other companies have been making notable progress.

Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.

The stock is now showing a 16.1% gain for the year after rising the past two days.

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Investment

S&P/TSX composite up more than 100 points, U.S. stock markets mixed

Published

3 weeks ago

October 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.

The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

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Economy

S&P/TSX up more than 200 points, U.S. markets also higher

Published

4 weeks ago

October 11, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.

The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

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