Former fugitive appeals 'overly harsh' sentence, asks court to overturn fraud convictions

Former fugitive Ron Aitkens wants out of jail. 

The Calgary fraudster who was sentenced to four years in prison last month filed an appeal, asking the court to overturn his convictions or at least let him serve his sentence at home. 

Aitkens, 70, who diverted about $10 million of investors' money to companies he owned, was convicted of two offences under the Alberta Securities Act in July 2020.

Canada-wide warrants were issued for his arrest after he failed to show up in court for sentencing last November. Border records show Aitkens crossed into Montana on the same day he was to be sentenced.

Nine months later, Aitkens was apprehended in Montana after he was pulled over for speeding. 

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In an appeal notice filed with the Court of King's Bench, Aitkens' lawyer Brendan Miller indicated a plan to argue the sentence imposed is "demonstrably unfit, disproportionate and overly harsh."

The defence will also argue the trial judge erred in admitting some of the exhibits into evidence and in allowing testimony from at least one witness.

The notice also submits that the trial judge erred in making findings that were unsupported by the evidence.

Reallocation of Legacy funds illegal

Between 2005 and 2008, Aitkens sold and distributed securities in Legacy Communities, a real estate investment company that planned to develop 500 acres (202 hectares) on Calgary's western boundary.

Aitkens raised more than $35 million from about 1,400 people, some of whom used their retirement savings on what they believed would be an investment opportunity.

The judge found that the Legacy project failed for multiple reasons, not solely because of diverted funds.

"It is true that the accused's illegal reallocation of Legacy funds did not help the situation; however, it does not entirely link the failure of Legacy exclusively to the accused's conduct," wrote Justice Lloyd Robertson in his decision.

"There was a genuine attempt to develop the Legacy lands."

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The most significant nail in the Legacy coffin was that the planning approval to develop the project was never granted. 

But Robertson also found Aitkens deceived investors through a "misleading and untrue" offering memoranda process, a tactic he carried out "secretly and deliberately."

In a victim impact statement, one of the investors wrote that he lost money he had saved for his children to go to university. 

The man wrote that he considered suicide at his lowest point.