Ont. investment broker faces fraud charges

An eastern Ontario investment broker sought by police for five months before his arrest made a videoappearance in courtto face fraud-related charges Wednesday.

"We're talking about fraud of over $3 million dollars and about 39 alleged victims," said RCMP Cpl. J.J. Hainey about the accusations against Bruce Elmore Wednesday.

Elmore, 59, whose Kemptville, Ont., company Elmore Financial Servicesdeclared bankruptcyin 2002,was remanded in custody after speaking briefly to an Ottawa court from the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre.

He has been charged with two counts of fraud over $5,000 and one count offailing to keep accounts as a trader. He also faces two charges under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

Elmorewasfound by police on Friday in Killaloe, Ont., about 150 kilometres northwest of Kemptville and 145 kilometres west of Ottawa, RCMP confirmed Tuesday.

A warrant had been issued for his arrest on March 17.

Helen Bunn, a former client who alleges she lost most of the savingsthat she and her husband invested with Elmore's company, said she was ecstatic when she heard about the arrest.

"We were thrilled," she told CBC.

According to Brian Doyle, the bankruptcy trusteewho investigated the case, clients had bought what they believed were conservative investments such as GICs from Elmore Financial Services over a decade.

Based on his investigation, Doyle alleged the money was instead invested in the stock market.