Fraudster too frail for jail, appeal court told

Ronald Jerry Fast is elderly, frail, sickly and mentally ill — and for those reasons deserves a break from the seven-year prison sentence he received for orchestrating a $16.7-million fraud on Saskatchewan investors, says his lawyer.

“He won’t make it out alive in the condition he’s in,” Saskatoon defence lawyer Morris Bodnar told the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal on Friday. He wants Fast’s prison term reduced to house arrest and probation.

Fast, 72, and his daughter Danielle Fast-Carlson, who played a lesser role, were sentenced last year for what a judge called one of the biggest — if not the biggest — fraud in the province’s history.

Crown prosecutor Andrew Davis said many of the 235 vulnerable victims who suffered financial ruin are elderly too — and there’s no reprieve for them.

“The appeal should be dismissed,” he said, adding the parole board can consider early release for Fast if his health is a concern.

The appeal court panel reserved decision, giving Bodnar time to file Fast’s medical records from prison and the Regional Psychiatric Centre (RPC). Fast, who appeared in court via video, occasionally sat with his head resting in his hands on a table as the arguments were underway.

Bodnar told court that within months of Fast’s arrival in prison, his health spiralled downward and he was transferred to the RPC. He said Fast is incontinent, requires a variety of medication for diabetes and coronary disease, and needs nurses to help him shower. Davis argued the defence was simply restating the health issues argued at Fast’s sentencing.

Fast pleaded guilty in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench to fraud, making false statements to induce investments, and possession of proceeds of crime. He headed a vehicle-leasing business, called Marathon Leasing Corp., that became a Ponzi scheme, taking in money from unwitting investors, many of whom connected with Fast through a faith community. Justice Richard Danyliuk, who sentenced Fast last May, called him “a person bereft of a moral compass.”

Fast-Carlson, Marathon’s accountant for four years until its collapse in 2008, was convicted at trial of fraud and making false statements. Danyliuk gave her a 30-month prison sentence. She was out on bail pending the appeal.

After hugging her family, the 40-year-old married mother of two young children was taken from Regina’s appeal courtroom to serve her time.

Chief Justice Robert Richards and Justices Maurice Herauf and Peter Whitmore unanimously upheld her conviction and prison sentence. They did, however, reserve decision on whether an order for her to pay $1 million in restitution should remain. (Her father received a $16.7-million restitution order.)