National Post (National Edition)
Wealthy Toronto man accused of killing girlfriend in L.A.
Less than a week before police found Blake Leibel barricaded in his West Hollywood apartment, the mother of his new baby bludgeoned nearby, the Toronto comic artist, director, and development scion was booked on a different felony charge and released on $100,000 bail.
Leibel, the son of Canadian Olympian and prominent real estate developer Lorne Leibel, was arrested by Los Angeles police just after midnight on May 20, according to jail records. Six days later, the police booked him again, this time on suspicion of murder: The victim, Iana Kasian, his live-in girlfriend and the mother of his new child.
Leibel, who was born in 1981, grew up in Toronto’s tony Forest Hill neighbourhood. His mother Eleanor owned a house there until she died from brain cancer in 2011.
Leibel sold that home in 2012 for $5.5 million, according to court records.
Multiple sources have confirmed to the National Post that the Toronto Leibel and the Leibel arrested in California are the same.
Around 2004, Leibel, an aspiring artist and media mogul, moved to California, according to an affidavit signed by his father. His brother Cody, too, has lived in California, working in the music industry and more recently real estate.
Online, Blake Leibel appeared to thrive in L.A. He directed several episodes of the cartoon adaptation of the movie Spaceballs. He wrote or co-wrote several graphic novels and a “space opera comic series” called United Free World. He helped run a publishing company that put out a comic in partnership with Wilmer Valderrama. He even wrote and directed a movie, Bald, that was released on DVD in 2009.
But according to the court records, Leibel had virtually no income from all his endeavours as of 2011. He told the court that when his mother died, he became completely reliant on his father to pay his “card bills.” His father, meanwhile, claimed in court documents that he and Blake’s mother had subsidized Blake’s lifestyle to the tune of some $1.8 million between 2004 and 2011.
Lorne Leibel built his vast fortune in Toronto developing new homes and subdivisions.
But he was famous before that, too. He competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics in sailing. And he became the first Canadian ever to fail an Olympic drug test that year when his sample turned up signs of phenyipropanol-mine, a banned stimulant common in cold medication at the time.
Lorne Leibel went on to become a prominent luxury car aficionado and powerboat enthusiast. He was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame.
But it was in real estate that he really made his mark, as the face of development companies including Touchstone Homes.
After Eleanor Leibel died, Blake sued her estate in an attempt to overturn her will. He told the court that he and his father had “always had an acrimonious relationship” and that his mother had been “angry at the way Lorne funded his own lifestyle and that of Cody, to Blake’s detriment.”
Eleanor Leibel left Blake her Toronto home, her art collection, an L.A. condo he lived in at the time with his then wife and child, and various other assets. The rest, including company shares worth $7 million, were to be split evenly between Blake and Cody.
In 2014, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice rejected Blake Leibel’s attempt to invalidate his mother’s will. He did not attend her funeral.
In the intervening years, Blake Leibel split up with his wife and the mother of at least one of his children, Amanda Braun. In 2015, he became an owner of Fantasy Prone, a graphic novel publishing company, according to his LinkedIn page. The company recently released the book “Wilmer Valderrama Presents Gold Medal Rabbit: Journey to the Animal Games.”
Last week, Leibel’s girlfriend’s mother reported her missing, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Department. When officers arrived at the apartment Leibel and Kasian shared last Thursday, they found Leibel barricaded inside, the entrance blocked off with furniture and debris. At first, he was unco-operative, said Lt. David Coleman.
“Ultimately, he came out real peacefully and gave himself up.”
Once inside, the officers found Kasian, 30, in a bedroom.
She appeared to have suffered blunt force trauma to the head, according to a press release from the department. She was pronounced dead on the scene.
Leibel was arrested on suspicion of murder. He was expected to appear in court on Tuesday.
Los Angeles Police were unable to confirm Sunday the details of Leibel’s earlier charge.