Why Isn't Harry in Jail?
A year ago, a number of purchasers in the 1st King West Project contacted me. I reviewed the documents and concluded that based on Harry Stinson's background: the project would go into receivership, many individuals would face a cash call because the project was overspent, and most lose their equity.
On Sunday, September 2nd, 2007, Jennifer Wells of the Toronto Star, wrote a fascinating article, which confirmed the first of my predictions, Harry Stinson and David Mirvish: not a love story
"David Mirvish sits quietly at a boardroom table. Very quietly. He softly raises and lowers the toes of his black leather lace-ups in the manner of an adolescent seated outside the principal's office. He silently flutters his sapphire blue tie. He considers what he has to say about his just-inked divorce from Harry Stinson, the condo-preneur.It is such a story.
And best told, as divorce tales always are, by attempting to pinpoint the moment of rupture, the end of the romance, or "the enchantment" as David Mirvish terms it.
The conventional line thus far is that Stinson was the big-dreaming visionary who launched the condo-hotel at 1 King St. W. and that Mirvish was the patient financial backer who, finally, snapped, pushing Stinson into receivership.
This is true."
Read the entire story because it is excellent. A number of facts caught my attention, not the least was this admission by Stinson.
"But in business terms, Stinson could more accurately be described as a promoter. Advertising rates of return as high as 18 per cent, Stinson launched an array of investment vehicles. There was the 9 per cent syndicated first mortgage on 1 King offered by Stinson Hospitality Inc., and the 15 per cent notes, also in Stinson Hospitality Inc., to finance, in part, improvements on the Dominion Club. Some, such as the Stinson Venture Fund, which held out the promise of a 15 per cent rate of return, and the Stinson Property Fund, were aborted. ...Ross invested a total of $33,000.
An interest payment received in November was the last money Walter Ross saw. He called Stinson up early in the New Year. "He said there won't be any more payments. He said it will accrue and come due on maturity," scheduled for November.
Walter Ross isn't sleeping well. "I get to sleep but I tell you I wake up after 3 1/2 hours. Oh my God. $33,000. You stupid, stupid individual. I use other words."
According to one of Harry Stinson's own affidavits, there are hundreds of investors like Walter Ross who ignored the bright red warning light that is supposed to go off when any promoter promises anything like an 18 per cent rate of return."
Forgetting the fact that ponzi schemes do not self advertise, as I have constantly stressed, Wells is saying that Stinson had admitted to soliciting funds from the public for unregistered securities.
Neither the Stinson Venture Fund, Stinson Property Fund, or the other financing schemes appear to be registered, according to www.sedar.com
In the United States, individuals who promise outlandish investment returns for real estate investments, like Pinnacle LLC, get charged with criminal fraud.
What will a seven million fraud get you in Texas? Attorney Michael James Wing, who ran a fraudulent "bridge loan scheme" found out the hard way.
"Assistant U.S. Attorney Arnold Spencer, who prosecuted the case with the late Wes Rivers, asked the judge to consider the number of witness statements he received. He said the recommended 10-year sentence was serious punishment for the crime but could allow Wing to emerge from this and make contributions he's capable of making to society.
"I don't think any amount of time can ever undo the amount of loss you've caused to so many people," Davis told the defendant, who was clad in orange and white striped jail garb.The judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison and ordered him to pay $9,171,262 in restitution. He will also serve three years of supervised release after his prison term.
Files said that in meetings with prosecutors, about $2 million was taken off of the restitution amount Wing owed.
When Wing was indicted and arrested in April 2006, prosecutors had estimated the loss at more than $7 million."
In Canada, you can apparently admit to the largest newspaper in the country that you have defrauded hundreds of individuals, and all you get is an interesting article.
What a Country.
