Securities fraudster appeals extra year of jail time

A former Edmonton financial adviser’s appeal of his sentence for a multimillion-dollar securities fraud got off to a rocky start Tuesday when lawyers arrived at the courthouse to find no judge assigned to the case.

Jeremy (Jay) Peers is appealing his 31/2-year prison sentence for 11 convictions under the Alberta Securities Act, which include two counts of perpetrating a fraud on investors and five counts of making untrue or misleading statements regarding investing in companies that collapsed in December 2010.

Federal Mortgage Co. and related investment management company Peers Foster Kristiansen Inc. went bankrupt, leaving about $77 million in debts and few assets.

His son, Robert Peers, also pleaded guilty to one count of contravening the Alberta Securities Act.

Peers’ lawyers asked for a conditional sentence as punishment, while Alberta Securities Commission counsel Robert Stack argued for a sentence of 21/2 years. But in June, provincial court Judge Fred Day opted to go higher, and tacked on an extra year in prison for the fraud offences.

On Tuesday, Peers’ lawyer, Alex Millman, appealed that sentence in Court of Queen’s Bench, arguing Day should have given formal notice that he planned to go above the prosecutor’s sentencing submission. With notice, the Crown and defence could have come to an agreement on a joint sentencing submission, Millman said.

He added Day should have found Peers’ lack of a prior criminal record to be a mitigating circumstance. He asked the sentence be reduced to 21/2 years.

Day did consider Peers’ lack of a record, but deemed it a “neutral” circumstance, court heard.

Stack argued that though it’s “good practice” for a judge to advise counsel of plans to go beyond sentencing submissions, Day didn’t commit an error. He also said the sentence Day arrived at was “reasonable” in the circumstances, given the large amount of money and the vulnerability of Peers’ victims, many of whom were retirees.

The hearing Tuesday was delayed while clerks hastily tracked down a judge to hear the appeal.

After reserving his decision, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Stephen Hillier said he wanted to remark on the record that the day’s complications weren’t a “one-off,” or because a judge wasn’t available.

“This isn’t a lack of judges, this is a lack of administrative support,” he said, adding such mix-ups happen too regularly because of the “inordinate volume” of work stretching court support staff.

Peers was not in court Tuesday, but one of his sons attended the hearing.