PASTUCH GETS BAIL
Appealing fraud conviction
Almost a year after she was taken away in handcuffs after her conviction in a $5.5-million investor fraud, Alena Marie Pastuch has been ordered released on bail pending the outcome of an appeal.
In a decision released Tuesday, release was granted under a number of conditions, including that she reside at her mother’s Regina home, surrender her passport, file a written argument in her appeal by Oct. 31, report in person twice a month to the RCMP, not have any personal identification or bank cards that aren’t in her own name, and agree to surrender herself into custody if her conviction or sentence is upheld on appeal.
“I cannot say public confidence in the administration of justice would be offended if Ms. Pastuch were released pending her appeal,” Saskatchewan Court of Appeal Justice Ralph Ottenbreit wrote in his decision.
Concerned that the appeal not get delayed in what became a significantly protracted case — stretching over five years from arrest to conviction — Ottenbreit set a case management date for July. In an affidavit, Pastuch said her release would give her more time to review a trial transcript and prepare.
The 54-year-old former Regina businesswoman is serving a seven-year, three-month prison sentence. On June 27, Justice Richard Elson found Pastuch guilty of fraud, theft and money laundering for misappropriating millions of dollars from 80 investors who believed the money would be used in the development and sale of anti-fraud and child protection technology. (The latter two charges were later stayed since the judge found they were covered by the fraud.)
Citing greed as a significant motivation for Pastuch, Elson found diverted investor funds were largely spent for personal use, including gambling, travel, shopping, a mortgage, and buying memorabilia for a separate collectibles business.
The funds had been invested in Pastuch’s five companies between 2007 and 2009. In June 2014, following a separate securities fraud investigation, Pastuch was charged criminally and briefly held in custody until granted release. She remained free until last June, when Elson revoked bail once she was convicted. Sentencing followed Aug. 16.
Pastuch, who represented herself at trial, promptly appealed. Her application lists 30 grounds, contending a miscarriage of justice and unreasonable verdict.
She first sought bail pending appeal back in August, but the judge said the application was premature until Pastuch could file a transcript of her lengthy trial, which began in October 2018.
To get bail post conviction and sentencing, Pastuch had to show her appeal isn’t frivolous, that she will surrender herself into custody if ordered, and that her detention isn’t necessary in the public interest.
The application was heard May 27, with the prosecution opposing release primarily on the basis that it would erode public confidence in the administration of justice. The Crown further argued Pastuch’s grounds of appeal are weak and unlikely to succeed.
According to Ottenbreit’s decision, Pastuch filed affidavits stating that since there’s been a long delay in getting a transcript, she may get day parole — a hearing is set for this fall — before the appeal is ever heard. She said that while she has been given access to a computer to review the 38 volumes of trial transcripts, prison restrictions limit that time.
She also argued she is immunocompromised, so has a heightened risk of contracting COVID-19 in prison.
In granting release, Ottenbreit said Pastuch’s offences are serious and the effect on victims “severe.” However, they fall short of a violent offence, where public confidence in justice would be shaken by release. He also found her appeal raises some “clearly arguable issues of law.”
Ottenbreit also considered her COVID-19 risk by remaining behind bars instead of living with her mother.
“Ms. Pastuch has met the onus of establishing that her detention is not necessary in the public interest,” the judge concluded.