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Eizenga denies guilt in fraud case

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'A massive, colossal fraud'
Wed, July 18, 2007
Mark Allan Eizenga is going from living the high life to an eight-year prison sentence.
By JANE SIMS, SUN MEDIA

It was, the judge said, "a massive, colossal fraud."
For that, Mark Allan Eizenga, former head of the Saxton Group, was sentenced to eight years in prison yesterday for bilking 799 investors of more than 40 million.
"By anyone's authority, this was a massive, colossal fraud on these investors with great risks taken with their money while Mr. Eizenga lived the high life with luxury surroundings nothing short of ostentatious, luxury automobiles funded with investor money," Justice John Getliffe said.
Eizenga, 42, of St. Catharines, pleaded guilty in November 2005 to one count of fraud between 1995 and 1998 in a case that has lurched through the justice system.
After hiring and firing two lawyers, he said at his sentencing hearing last month he didn't believe he was guilty, even though he had pleaded guilty.
Yesterday, he had nothing to say before Getliffe pronounced sentence.
Eizenga turned at the defence table and looked at his parents, his wife Lisa Ip, and four young children. He smiled and waved to them as he was led to the holding cells.
Eizenga was the central figure in a scam that cost hundreds of investors -- many from Southwestern Ontario -- their life savings.
They handed over their money to reputable sales reps pushing Saxton's purported guaranteed investment certificates and registered retirement savings plans that promised a 30-per-cent return.
Assistant Crown attorney John Forrester had asked for nine years. Eizenga requested a conditional discharge.
Getliffe said Eizenga "did not get it." Given the magnitude of the fraud, a discharge was unthinkable and a conditional sentence unavailable.
He said Eizenga's disagreement with the facts presented by the Crown was an "extreme rationalization," "self-serving" and "totally contradicted" his signed settlement agreement with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) in 2005 that banned him for 25 years.
The OSC pointed to Eizenga as the controlling mind of Saxton who "made all the key business and management decisions."
He told investors he complied with securities laws, his salespeople didn't need to be registered with the OSC, the 30-per-cent interest was guaranteed, that he purchased security bonds and that he had a deposit certificate of 40 million backed by gold -- all untrue.
Eizenga was charged in May 2003 with James Sylvester, 61, of Woodstock and since then has made 51 court appearances -- 19 of them since he pleaded guilty.
Sylvester committed suicide in September 2005, days before an Ontario Court preliminary hearing.
Some of the hyped Saxton investments were off-shore -- a Cuban brewery and soft drink company, a coffee and juice business in the Caribbean, and a plant converting New York garbage into energy in India.
But they were never secure and Eizenga defied securities laws to raise as much money as he could.
Throughout the time period, Eizenga lived in luxury in a - 1million Burlington home, Getliffe said.
"Mr. Eizenga had the pious hope that one day profit would arrive, but in the meantime he feathered his own nest without regard for his investors," Getliffe said.
Something left "unexplained," Getliffe said, was the -million funnelled to Sylvester.
Getliffe reviewed 200 victim-impact statements that outlined investors' "devastating losses."
Eizenga's pre-sentence report detailed how he lost two brothers and a sister in a car accident when he was a child. He told the report's author he is "at a loss as to where the 40 million disappeared."
Along with the prison sentence, Getliffe made a restitution order.

Cheated investors tell tragic tales of losses
Wed, July 18, 2007
Mark Allan Eizenga is sentenced to eight years in prison for a -million fraud scheme.
By JANE SIMS, SUN MEDIA

She was an elderly pensioner who had 120,000 in savings earmarked for retirement and her children's inheritance.
Before she died, she put her trust in the Saxton Group investments, believing they would care for her money and pay out generous interest.
Instead, she lost it all.
"I thank God that shortly after this investment my mother developed Alzheimer's (which) did not allow her to know what became of her life savings," the woman's daughter wrote in one of 200 victim impact statements filed to the court in the sentencing of former Saxton director Mark Allan Eizenga.
Yesterday, when Eizenga, 42 of St. Catharines, was sentenced to eight years in prison for the -million fraud, Ontario Court Justice John Getliffe pointed to the crippling losses for the investors -- many of whom were pensioners.
Only a couple of conned investors were in the courtroom to see the would-be financial guru sentenced. None wanted to comment.
But the depth of their losses echoes in the pages of victim impact statements.
One man, who lost 400,000, including half the value of his home, had to return to work at age 72. Others spoke of sleepless nights, nervous breakdowns and illness since losing their savings.
"I believe my first reactions were shock, disbelief and denial, followed by rage, resentment, guilt and then depression," one woman wrote.
"I don't know if I'll ever be able to retire," said one man who lost 803,699. "I feel I have been living in hell for the last few years."
Another man described how long it took to save the money and how quickly it was gone.
"To know these people used our hard-earned money -- they even took money so far back as when I was 12 years old on a paper route.
"The pain and hurt and always thinking of what was done to you just doesn't go away," he wrote.
One man said he and his wife were using the 2,000 interest paid out monthly on their Saxton investment to make a special vaccine from his wife's blood to fight her leukemia. But soon the payments dried up and the investment was gone.
"We tried for as long as our finances would allow . . . the treatment. It was impossible to keep up financially," he wrote. His wife has since died.
Others spoke of lost opportunities and dreams that will go unfulfilled.
"We have been honest and trustworthy people and expected the same from others," one couple wrote. "We have many sleepless nights thinking about how we would not be able to retire as soon as we wanted."
One man, who lost his life savings of 160,000, said his golden years are shattered.
"It hurts to look at your wife and tell her that we cannot afford to do much but sit around and wait for the end of our lives."
CHRONOLOGY OF INVESTIGATION INTO SAXTON GROUP
1998: Ontario Provincial Police begin a probe into the business dealings of the Saxton Group after the Ontario Securities Commission receives complaints from investors. It is suspected 800 people lost more than 40 million beginning in 1995 after they put money into what they thought were registered retirement savings plans and guaranteed investment certificates with the Burlington-based investment company with roots in London.
May 2003: Mark Allan Eizenga, 38, of St. Catharines and James Edward Sylvester, 59, of Woodstock are charged with multiple counts of fraud over 5,000 and theft over 5,000.
August 2003: Eizenga files for bankruptcy with debts of 16 million. Sylvester files for bankruptcy the same year.
August 2005: Eizenga is banned from trading securities for 22 years and from acting as a director of any securities firm for 25 years by the Ontario Securities Commission, which calls his conduct "egregious."
Sept. 5, 2005: Sylvester, 61, commits suicide in Woodstock, two weeks before his preliminary hearing with Eizenga in Ontario Court.
Nov. 4, 2005: Eizenga pleads guilty to one count of fraud over 5,000 at the start of his preliminary hearing. His lawyer, William Trudell, tells Ontario Court Justice John Getliffe he and assistant Crown attorney John Forrester are drafting an agreed statement of facts.
May 2006: After months of delay, Trudell asks to be removed from the case because of "a collapse of the solicitor-client relationship."
November 2006: Eizenga retains Toronto lawyer Anida Chiodo.
March 2006: Chioda gets off the case after she is unable to get instructions from Eizenga.
June 12, 2007: Eizenga appears for his sentencing hearing without a lawyer. He says he feels "very guilty" about what happened to the investors but "I don't believe I'm guilty" of fraud. He challenges more than 100 points in the agreed statement of facts and asks for a conditional discharge. The Crown asks for nine years in prison.
July 17, 2007: Eizenga is sentenced to eight years in prison. Getliffe calls Eizenga's crime "a massive, colossal fraud."

Wed, June 13, 2007

By JANE SIMS, SUN MEDIA

The disgraced head of a group of companies says he feels "very guilty" about what happened to the hundreds of investors who lost million.

But Mark Allan Eizenga, 42, stopped short of accepting criminal guilt for fraud at his sentencing hearing yesterday.

"I don't believe I'm guilty," Eizenga said when pressed by Ontario Court Justice John Getliffe, after Eizenga challenged more than 100 points of an agreed statement of facts outlining the bilking of Saxton Group investors.

Eizenga's retreat from his guilty plea from November 2005 came too late in a case that began in 1998. Since then, hundreds of people -- mostly from Southwestern Ontario -- have stepped forward with how they were fleeced of life savings for the promise of high-return offshore investments.

Assistant Crown attorney John Forrester asked that Eizenga get nine years. Eizenga wants a conditional discharge.

At yesterday's hearing, Eizenga represented himself without a lawyer.

It took Forrester two hours to read the 46-page statement of facts.

"This fraud is overwhelming, it's massive," he said.

Eizenga disagreed with most of it. His biggest beef was the company, not he alone, was responsible for the transactions.

Getliffe reviewed 200 victim impact statements -- many who lost entire retirement savings to Saxton. Most of the investors were born in 1951 or earlier. The oldest, a woman born in 1902, lost 33,000.

One man lost a total of 1.3 million.

Eizenga and James Sylvester, 61 -- who committed suicide just days before a preliminary hearing in 2005 -- worked together in 1995 to raise investment capital for the Caribbean hotel industry.

Eizenga incorporated at least 40 Ontario corporations. Sales reps, many from insurance, pushed GICs and RRSPs, promising returns of 30 per cent.

A brewery and soft drink company in Cuba, coffee and juice business in the Caribbean and a plant in India to convert New York garbage into energy were all hyped as excellent investments.

But they were nowhere near secure. Eizenga skirted Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) rules to raise as much money as possible.

The OSC began to investigate in 1997 and Eizenga was banned for 25 years in 2005. Police became involved in 1998.

Forrester said none of Eizenga's companies turned a profit. About 4.5 million of the investors' money was used to pay other investors' interest or dividends.

About 17.5 million ended up with Sylvester 's export company and funnelled through the Caribbean to his personal accounts.

Another 3.8 million went to Caribbean business and the manager of Cuban operations. About 2 million went to sales commissions.

Eizenga got 4.8 million from Canadian and Caribbean companies. The money -- much of it issued through Saxton cheques -- paid for a -million Burlington home.

Another 440,000 was spent on landscaping, home renovations and other expenses.

The company was paying for Porsches, Mercedes and BMWs, a stretch limousine, a 50,000 boat and jet-skis.

Eizenga will be sentenced July 17.

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