
Saskatchewan’s shopper watchdog is trying to find to keep two Saskatoon women dependable for the collapse of their real estate corporation that left buyers with hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses.

The Economical and Purchaser Affairs Authority (FCAA) is looking for a full of $300,000 in administrative fees from Rochelle Laflamme and Alisa Thompson, the founders of the now-defunct business, Epic Alliance.

Last year a court-requested investigation located that $211.9 million pounds invested in the corporation by many traders was generally long gone.

Attempts by CTV Information to get hold of Laflamme and Thompson have been unsuccessful.

The FCAA also wants the pair to shell out compensation to each and every particular person or company that missing income as a end result of their alleged contraventions of Saskatchewan’s securities regulations.

Laflamme and Thompson would also be permanently banned from working in financial commitment-linked fields.

The FCAA alleges the ladies provided investments when they ended up not accredited to do so and continued to raise revenue and promote investments when the agency ordered them to prevent.

In its filings, the FCAA incorporated statements from a dozen buyers who misplaced revenue with the organization.

The FCAA also documented Facebook posts it says ended up printed when Epic Alliance was under an get to temporarily cease buying and selling in October 2021.

“Deciding exactly where and when to commit can be challenging, allow us help you navigate these selections. We have the expertise and working experience to make this easy for you,” one of the posts said.

The penalties sought by the FCAA have to be approved by a panel, which will convene for a two-week-very long listening to scheduled to start on Aug. 28.

Adhering to very last year’s courtroom-purchased investigation, a report was submitted by the court-appointed monetary inspector.

Numerous of the data obtainable to the inspector had been “really disorganized” and data servers made up of fiscal data were uncovered missing from the firm’s workplace, the report mentioned.

The inspector finally tracked down the servers — with some info even now intact — at an IT corporation that experienced allegedly been instructed to “wipe” and provide the servers, according to the report.

The inspector also identified that Epic Alliance lifted $370,000 from 4 investors when the FCAA cease trade buy was nevertheless in effect.

Even although the firm was forbidden from trading, the inspector claimed a special advertising was presented wherever new investors could gain an supplemental two for every cent previously mentioned the posted desire amount.

In the wake of the firm’s failure, Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) mentioned the company was beneath investigation by its economic crimes device.

On Tuesday, in an e-mail to CTV News, SPS verified the investigation is nonetheless deemed active.

The meltdown of Epic Alliance resulted in considerable monetary losses for far more than 120 traders, generally from British Columbia and Ontario.

The enterprise presented a “trouble-free of charge” landlord system — giving to take care of residences for out-of-province buyers.

Below the landlord application, the trader would acquire out the mortgage loan on the dwelling and Epic Alliance would assume responsibility for finding tenants and protecting the property.

Quite a few of the properties actually sat vacant as the corporation promised the trader a 15 for each cent confirmed fee of return on their expense.

Past year, a Saskatoon attorney representing some of the buyers explained the pair have been “employing new funds to shell out aged revenue.”

“Expenditure solutions must make returns on (their) very own, not by buying new revenue,” Mike Russell stated.

The corporation also offered a “fund-a-flip” application, where by traders could buy households by means of Epic Alliance — which would oversee improvements and upgrades — and then promote for a financial gain, normally marketed as a 10 for each cent return on a one-yr investment decision.

The pair also lifted funds through promissory notes — the place buyers would mortgage income to be repaid with interest.

The overlapping systems helped Epic Alliance amass more than 500 homes in Saskatoon totalling $126 million in worth, in accordance to the company’s own advertising content.

Last January, Laflamme and Thompson hosted a Zoom conference to inform buyers of the company’s imminent demise.

According to a transcript of the contact incorporated in a courtroom submitting, the company’s fiscal circumstance was explained as a “s–t sandwich.”

“Sad to say, any person who had any unsecured money owed … it can be all long gone. Almost everything is long gone. There is no enterprise left and which is what it is,” the transcription reported.

Laflamme and Thompson begun Epic Alliance in 2013.

–With files from Keenan Sorokan
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