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Victims of the Lech fraud get some degree of closure from his admission of guilt. Some monies were recovered in the class action suit and this outlines the results of the criminal case against Lech.

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Lech sentenced to six years
Fri, October 19, 2007
He finally admits guilt in a 1M-plus area fraud.
By JANE SIMS, SUN MEDIA

Failed financial guru Andrew Lech lingered in jail more than three years, refusing to answer questions about what happened to millions of dollars he was given by hundreds of investors.
Yesterday, in a surprising courtroom twist, Lech, 47, of Peterborough, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud over 5,000.
He began a six-year prison sentence after finally admitting he had taken part in a massive million to million cheat of trusting investors -- many from Southwestern Ontario and some of whom lost all their savings.
Many were devout Christians and retirees. One prominent name, former Toronto Maple Leaf Nikolai Borchevsky, lost 150,000.
Lech's admission brought to a close one of the biggest frauds seen in the region and ended the prospect of a six-to-eight week trial slated to start in November.
"There is absolutely no doubt . . . your actions and the actions of intermediaries have devastated people beyond imagination," Superior Court Justice Lynda Templeton said. She accepted the joint Crown, defence submission, calling the case "a tragic day, a sad day for everyone concerned."
In the blue hockey coat over green hockey coat he's worn to his many appearances, Lech was polite in his plea after the charge was read to him.
"Guilty, sir," Lech said to the clerk, before a 21-page agreed statement of facts was entered as an exhibit to the court.
When asked if he had anything to say, he replied "No I don't. Thank you."
The politeness belied the bizarreness of four years of investigation.
Lech never lived the high life off the millions he collected in the Ponzi scheme in which money from later investors was used to pay earlier investors.
Lech lost his home and cottage and at one point appeared to be living out of his vehicle.
He wouldn't say where the money was and refused to answer questions from the lawyers in a class action lawsuit by 500 investors -- landing him in jail for what is believed to be the longest civil contempt sentence in Canadian history that is slated to end next month.
There doesn't appear to be a stash of money anywhere. The civil case ended with a -million default judgment.
In 2006, Lech was charged with 88 fraud charges.
He dragged his feet and delayed setting court dates.
Templeton ordered Lech be given a full psychological and emotional assessment in prison given his strange conduct.
The statement of facts filed by assistant Crown attorney John Forrester described how Lech's scheme began to collapse in May 2003 when the Ontario Provincial Police began its investigation.
Lech is a divorced father of two girls and two boys. Raised by his mother and grandmother in a lower-income home, his family struggled to make ends meet.
Investors were told that Lech was managing a family fortune worth up to 500 million.
He began to invest money for his family in the 1980s -- many investments were failures -- and then moved on to people with a Baptist church in Peterborough where he had been a camp sports director.
His reputation as a financial guru was passed onto to others in the church community. Soon he had hundreds of investors in Ontario and Ohio, taking in 100 million, Forrester said.
Along with the church clients, he persuaded parents on his son's competitive hockey team to invest. A number of other investors gave him -1 million after meeting Lech, usually in hotels in Toronto or the Highway 401 corridor.
Investors were told they would "piggyback" on Lech's family investments and be given a guaranteed high rate of return of 15 to 20 per cent. And they did not have to pay tax.
Forrester said Lech must have spent most of his days "going to bank to bank to bank to keep the Ponzi scheme afloat."
Four other key people helped in the sale of the investment vehicle -- retired Bell Canada worker Gary McNaughton, retired General Motors worker Dennis Yackowiec, former automotive painter and Baptist Dan Shuttleworth, and mutual fund representative Joseph Vandervelden.
McNaughton, who secured investments from a church in Ohio, was sentenced in May to 51/4 years in the United States for his involvement in the scheme.
Lech's lawyer, Paul Downs, told Templeton the case had a "devastating effect on his family. He has not seen his children, age 12, 14, 17 and 19. since he was incarcerated 40 months ago.
Templeton said the children are also victims in this case.
"They've lost something far more important than money -- they've lost their father, and for that they never recover and their children will never recover

Lives of investors, families tossed into turmoil
Fri, October 19, 2007
By JANE SIMS, SUN MEDIA

For years, Mary Ellen and Don Milligan have been chasing Andrew Lech and a lost life savings.
Yesterday, Mary Ellen Milligan said a chapter closed when Lech, 47, pleaded guilty to fraud.
"It's not nice to see a man go to jail, but I'm glad he has done this and admitted this and perhaps this is his first step to rehabilitation."
But she said "six years will never make up to the people who have been through horrendous situations."
"There's been families come apart, there's been deaths, there's been all kinds of things."
The Milligans have stood strong, even after losing 450,000 to Lech and his scheme -- 100,000 of it belonging to an elderly aunt whose investments they were managing.
Though they would not wish the experience on anyone, Mary Ellen Milligan said they have met some extraordinary people, especially the lawyers who worked so hard on their behalf.
Lech, on the other hand, who claimed to be a born-again Christian, "has to answer to his God for what he has done."
Mary Ellen Milligan said the couple made the investments so they could do more charitable work.
"We thought when we did this we would have more to give. That is the thing that hurts Don and I the most."
Lech's guilty plea did save the Milligans and others from having to testify at a lengthy trial that was set to start next month.
The investors came from many walks of life. One forked over 2 million to the scheme. Others scraped together savings and insurance money hoping for a better return.
One woman invested life insurance money after her husband died in an accident, hoping for more money for her children's education.
Some linked up with the scheme through Lech's intermediaries. Some were pastors and missionaries.
One investor was former Toronto Maple Leaf Nikolai Borchevsky who invested 200,000 with Lech after running a summer hockey clinic for Lech's son's hockey team in Peterborough.
He lost 150,000. He could not be contacted yesterday.
Bob Buchan said he was looking forward to finally coming face-to-face with Lehc, who took money from his dying father for his scheme.
"I would have like to have told my story and him hear it personally," he said.
Buchan, who farms near New Glasgow, said in 2002, his father Jack was dying of lung cancer when he invested through his financial adviser into Lech's scheme.
The returns dried up not long after Jack Buchan died. Bob Buchan and his siblings are still in legal discussions with the investment firm.
"We fully expect we'll get our money back," he said.
He said although his family was not stung through church activity, there are "two ways to spell pray -- one is with an 'a', one with an 'e'.
"In the church you see both of that, and people outside do both, pray for you and prey on you. And that's kind of what happened here."
Though many investors blamed Lech, there are still some -- many who made money -- who see him as a financial genius.
David MacKenzie, a London lawyer who helped head up a class-action lawsuit, said Lech's guilty plea will finally give many investors the answer about whether there was wrongdoing.
"Some definitely did not want to believe that was possible or that it occurred in this case.
"With his guilty plea he has made the final admission. Some will get some closure from that, others will just be horrified by that."

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