Calgary man on the lam for mortgage fraud sentenced to three years

CALGARY — A Calgary man who was arrested after being on the lam for two years in Mexico for his part in a $27-million mortgage fraud has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Kenneth Charles Fowler was president of The Investment Exchange Mortgage Corp. (TIE Mortgage).

He entered guilty pleas in March under Alberta Securities laws for fraud relating to the sale of securities of TIE Mortgage, unregistered trading in TIE Mortgage securities and engaging in an illegal distribution of those securities.

Fowler represented his company as a qualified mortgage investment corporation and made assurances that investments with the company met the requirements for RSPs and other tax-deferred investments

The firm fraudulently collected $27 million from 200 investors between 2002 and 2013.

Fowler admitted to using money raised from investors to support his personal lifestyle, day trading, and to make payments to other investors as dividends and redemptions.

Alberta provincial court Judge Mike Dinkel sentenced Fowler on Friday to three years with credit for time already served in jail.

Dinkel has also banned Fowler from acting in any capacity that would require registration, from engaging in investor relations activities or becoming or acting as a director or officer of any issuer.

Arrest warrants were issued for Fowler and his co-accused Douglas Schneider in early 2014.

Schneider was arrested and detained in the United States later that year and extradited to Canada in June 2014.

He was sentenced to one year in jail after pleading guilty to making misleading statements, trading in securities without registration, and trading in distributions of securities without a prospectus.

Fowler was arrested by Mexican immigration authorities as he was illegally residing in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico in January 2016 and deported back to Canada.