Investors press for fraud charges

Some investors in Eastern Ontario are pushing the RCMP to lay charges in an alleged case of investor fraud after losing their life savings.

A group of about 40 people had invested with Elmore Financial Services in Kemptville, Ont., which filed for bankruptcy last fall owing over $3 million.

Some of them had up to $600,000 invested by the company.

• INTERVIEW: CBC reporter Julie Ireton's documentary look at the fallout from the bankruptcy of Elmore Financial Services [Runs 7:40]

The investors had asked Bruce Elmore to put their money into guaranteed investments (GICs) with a major bank, but Elmore Financial Services invested their money in real estate and the stock market.

"It's not as if the man told us all, 'I have this 500 acres of swampland in Florida.' We were on a get rich slowly scheme here," said Peter Bunn, one of the people whose money is now gone.

"We were quite content to take our four to five per cent in GICs, and mosey along down the road to creating wealth without risk."

Many of Elmore's clients have documents saying their money was in guaranteed investments.

The RCMP is now looking into the case, but white-collar crime is not a high priority, in part because commercial crime investigations are difficult to prove and prohibitively expensive, says David Paciocco, a criminal law professor at the University of Ottawa.

That's compounded by a renewed emphasis on security in our society after the September 11 terrorist attacks, he says.

"If you want to contribute extra resources to security issues for example, then obviously those funds have to come from somewhere," said Paciocco.

"And unless there's an additional [money], you're going to see a slowdown in activity in other areas, including commercial crime."

The bankruptcy trustee for Elmore Financial Services says creditors will likely get 10 per cent of their money back.

Bruce Elmore continues to offer accounting and income-tax services from his Kemptville office.