A sentencing hearing is underway for two men convicted of engineering one of the biggest investment frauds in Canadian history.
Gary Sorenson and Milowe Brost were both found guilty of fraud and theft in connection to a Ponzi scheme that was centered around a Honduran Gold Mine earlier this year.
Thousands of investors lost between $100 and $400 million between 1999 and 2008 and some lost their entire life savings.
The sentencing hearing for the pair was delayed to allow one of the lawyers to get up to speed in the case.
Over 600 victim impact statements were submitted and on Monday, investors were given the chance to speak in court.
Originally 74 elected to read their statements but only one of those people showed up on Monday.
Carole Knopp, 69, of Enderby, B.C., told the court that she lost $130,000 and will be faced with debt for the rest of her life.
"When I see them here today, it brings back the anger. I’m sad, depressed I guess," said Knopp. "I had mortgaged my home to get into this so I was left with a big mortgage. I have neglected health issues and upkeep on my home. I had to downsize into a smaller place."
Over 850 people applied for restitution of losses from the scam but the Crown says there may not be any money out there to reimburse investors.
The Crown is asking for a maximum 14 year sentence but the defence says the appropriate range for an offence of this nature is between eight and ten years.
“There’s an argument to be made on count one that the maximum would be ten years. Count three arguably would be fourteen years,” said Shamsher Kothari, defence attorney for Milowe Brost
The sentencing hearing is scheduled to last two days.
