REVscene Automotive Forum

REVscene Automotive Forum (https://www.revscene.net/forums/)
-   Vancouver Off-Topic / Current Events (https://www.revscene.net/forums/vancouver-off-topic-current-events_50/)
-   -   Kelowna victim of Ponzi scheme lost everything, took her own life (https://www.revscene.net/forums/589568-kelowna-victim-ponzi-scheme-lost-everything-took-her-own-life.html)

Harvey Specter 09-16-2009 11:49 PM

Kelowna victim of Ponzi scheme lost everything, took her own life
 
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465...n?size=620x400

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465...n?size=620x400

Quote:

CALGARY - A woman alleged to have been victimized by what police describe as a $100-million Ponzi scheme sank into a deep depression after losing her savings - then took her own life, her family says.

Gloria Lozinski said her sister Edna Coulic of Kelowna, B.C., invested more than $300,000 in the alleged scheme - one that was introduced to her by a friend as an investment opportunity where she could make 30 to 40 per cent returns - but 18 months ago learned that her money was likely lost forever.

She said her sister had worked hard to build a career in real estate and was making plans to spend some of her promised fortune on her aging mother.

“She was outgoing, vibrant, sociable, kind, giving, sharing. She was genuinely a really great person who wouldn’t do harm to anybody,” said Lozinski. “When she found out some of that accomplishment and her investing made her look really rather kind of foolish, it was very difficult for her to forgive herself.”

Coulic committed suicide in October 2008.

“At the end of it, she became anti-social, she just didn’t have any more,” said Lozinski. “She didn’t want to go out as much. Her demeanour changed to the point where she lost her zest for life.

“She was a very intelligent, articulate woman. There’s no way she would have been conned except if these guys were very, very good at what they did.”

Two Calgary-area men, Milowe Brost and Gary Sorenson, have been charged with running the Ponzi scheme. Sorenson is believed to be out of the country, possibly in Honduras, and Brost has been arrested and released on bail.

A Ponzi scam typically includes promises of high investment returns, and sees early investors paid off with cash from newer investors until the pyramid collapses. Investors are discouraged from withdrawing any funds for as long as possible.

Police claim that more than 3,000 investors lost hundreds of millions of dollars in total, potentially making it one of the largest in Canadian history.

Dozens of investigators in the Canada Revenue Agency's Calgary office are hunkered down probing the tax consequences of the fraud charges.

The tax examination of the Calgary-based investment plot is part of a two-year investigation and follows an intense, two-day search of 50 locations across Western Canada by agency investigators and auditors in March 2008. At that time, 300 tax officials swept the locations - which included usually quiet accountants’ offices - for evidence related to fictitious registered retirement savings plans, investment scams and tax evasion.

Court documents filed last year to execute search warrants say the Canada Revenue Agency has reassessed 295 related investors in at least $29 million in RRSP withdrawals, "creating a significant tax consequence" for those people.

Investigators allege a North America-wide army of investment advisers called "structurists" did much of the work recruiting investors through entities such as the Institute for Financial Learning.

Lozinski said she hopes those structurists are investigated by police.

“When people say, how did she buy into it? Well, that’s exactly how. They had people that had a reputation, that had education, that had a title that went with it.”

With files from Kelly Cryderman, Gwendolyn Richards and Kristen Odland

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

StealthFighter 09-17-2009 12:02 AM

I don't feel too bad because it's her fault she got scammed from being too greedy.

bcrdukes 09-17-2009 12:18 AM

Money (greed for that matter) clouded her judgement. People make mistakes but by no means did she have to take her own life.

Mephology 09-17-2009 03:14 AM

It doesn't matter if she fell for a scam and maybe a good one, she's still the victim of fraud.

jbsali 09-17-2009 03:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mephology (Post 6597095)
It doesn't matter if she fell for a scam and maybe a good one, she's still the victim of fraud.


thats very true...

mr_piggy 09-17-2009 04:55 AM

Survival of the fittest is a bitch :D

mr_piggy 09-17-2009 04:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mephology (Post 6597095)
It doesn't matter if she fell for a scam and maybe a good one, she's still the victim of fraud.

Lame. People that are dumb enough to invest all their life savings into something they don't understand deserve to lose it all. :D

Hot Karl 09-17-2009 06:55 AM

She said her sister had worked hard to build a career in real estate and was making plans to spend some of her promised fortune on her aging mother.

that explains it. after years in an industry that has more entitlement then a 4th generation yale grad, it'd make perfect sense why she thought she'd be able to get more money for nothing.

real estate agents are just over glorified used car salesman.

Jsunu 09-17-2009 07:08 AM

Listen, regardless of the fact that she may have been mistaken in her investment, this does not mean that A) she is greedy or b) that she is a dumb bitch that needed to be culled in some bullshit "survival of the fittest" nonsense. She was a real human being that lost everything she had worked for YEARS. I am sympathetic towards her.

mr_piggy 09-17-2009 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jsunu (Post 6597181)
Listen, regardless of the fact that she may have been mistaken in her investment, this does not mean that A) she is greedy or b) that she is a dumb bitch that needed to be culled in some bullshit "survival of the fittest" nonsense. She was a real human being that lost everything she had worked for YEARS. I am sympathetic towards her.

Lame.

Only greedy and stupid people get tricked into these schemes (anyone who knows anything about investing will be extremely suspicious of 30-40% ROI year over year when most professional investors LOSE money over the LR) . I don't think she deserves to die or whatever but she deserves to have her money stolen.

And why should anyone sympathize for her? She lost her money because of her stupidity and then she killed herself because she thought that was her best option.

:D

ajax 09-17-2009 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr_piggy (Post 6598010)
Lame.

Only greedy and stupid people get tricked into these schemes (anyone who knows anything about investing will be extremely suspicious of 30-40% ROI year over year when most professional investors LOSE money over the LR) . I don't think she deserves to die or whatever but she deserves to have her money stolen.

And why should anyone sympathize for her? She lost her money because of her stupidity and then she killed herself because she thought that was her best option.

:D

So youre happy she killed herself? Thats what it seems like, you sick fuck.

unit 09-17-2009 05:12 PM

lol 30-40%
ppl dream of simply beating the market at 10%+

pawdregry4g 09-17-2009 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr_piggy (Post 6598010)
Lame.

Only greedy and stupid people get tricked into these schemes (anyone who knows anything about investing will be extremely suspicious of 30-40% ROI year over year when most professional investors LOSE money over the LR) . I don't think she deserves to die or whatever but she deserves to have her money stolen.

And why should anyone sympathize for her? She lost her money because of her stupidity and then she killed herself because she thought that was her best option.

:D

You can only deserve to be punished if you yourself has done something wrong. Just because she was blinded by the prospect of easy wealth doesn't mean that the crooks who took it are justified by her "stupidity."
p1:"Hey bro could i borrow 50 bucks"
p2: "sure"
p2: "hey when are you paying me back?"
p1: "never?"
p2: "aw shucks, I guess i deserved it"

jeff_alexander 09-17-2009 06:01 PM

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/2766/1995028.jpg

LiquidTurbo 09-17-2009 06:33 PM

^ dude, is that all you do?

jigga250 09-17-2009 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiquidTurbo (Post 6598162)
^ dude, is that all you do?

I LOL'd

mr_piggy 09-17-2009 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajax (Post 6598015)
So youre happy she killed herself? Thats what it seems like, you sick fuck.

Do you have some kind of mental disorder or are you just a dumb hick?

Where did I say I was happy that she killed herself? I even specifically said "I don't think she deserves to die..."

A trait typified by you losers is that you're are especially sympathetic to one another. It makes sense, you losers are so used to being at the wrong end of the stick.

nipples 09-18-2009 02:40 AM

''u cant cheat an honest man''
or in this case a woman.

and yes. i agree that she deserves to lose her money. it's a different issue if it was a legit operation from a credible source that simply misrepresented itself. i mean, c'mon...if there really is a 30-40% ROI dont u think other people would be in on it before you? it's ike finding a super hot girl wanting to jump your bone and telling u she's a virgin n has no stds. you think you're that hot she just couldnt help herself?
same idea. if u get cheated, its cause you're greedy or dumb.

and the thing with the 50dollars...if it's a stranger, you're a retard. if it's a friend - you misjudged your ability to choose friends. if it was family - never expect to get money back from lending to family, it's as good as gone. plain n simple.


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 08:13 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
SEO by vBSEO ©2011, Crawlability, Inc.
Revscene.net cannot be held accountable for the actions of its members nor does the opinions of the members represent that of Revscene.net