'All the people I deceived': Alleged fraudster gave several confessions to police, judge hears

A Calgary man accused of defrauding investors out of more than $1 million gave several "confessions" to police, telling investigators he was prepared to talk about "all the people I deceived" and was prepared to go to jail. 

These are some of the details prosecutor Aaron Rankin told Court of King's Bench Justice Robert Armstrong he would hear during the two-week trial.

Scott Brooks, 51, faces charges of fraud, money laundering and identity fraud stemming from alleged crimes between 2010 and 2018. 

In Rankin's opening statement on Tuesday, he outlined the Crown's case, giving details of the allegations and the evidence expected to be called. 

'All the people I deceived'

Some of the most powerful evidence is likely to come from Brooks himself through a series of emails and subsequent interviews.

In a November 2019 email to an RCMP investigator, Brooks referred to "a confession or at least an attempt to show you that I am getting the courage to detail my whole life and all the people I deceived."

"I am extremely scared because I know once I do this there is no turning back," he wrote.

"I also know you view me as a fraudster who will lie his way around anything. This is true, I am. This is probably the only truthful thing I've said in a long time."

'I will be going to jail'

Days later, Brooks wrote "I know I will be going to jail" but said he wanted to do it for the sake of everyone "I have taken money from and ruined their lives."

He was doing this, he said, against the advice of his lawyer. 

Books then gave two statements to police over the next two months that Rankin described as "confessions."

The Crown alleges that one of those "ruined" lives was a man who, over a three-year period, gave Brooks $750,000.

In 2010, Brooks claimed to be involved in a deal with an oilfield services company that wanted to buy the patent for a "revolutionary flange," a deal the alleged fraudster claimed was worth millions. 

$800,000 invested by one man

The man was also convinced to take out an $800,000 mortgage on a million-dollar property south of Calgary where Brooks and his family were living.

Brooks claimed to be manufacturing the flange in a Quonset on the property. 

The man used his retirement funds, savings and sold properties to fund the investment. 

He ended up living in his son-in-law's basement. 

In another instance, the prosecution says, Brooks told an alleged victim he was in a multimillion-dollar business deal with ConocoPhillips.

'Forged correspondence'

The investor, who handed over $200,000, believed the deal was legitimate, in part because he received emails from a local lawyer. The investigation revealed that Brooks used her email signature in "forged correspondence."

When the investor became suspicious, he began recording their conversations. Rankin told the judge he will play some of those conversations as part of the Crown's case. 

Two other men — business partners — invested $150,000 in the same fictitious ConocoPhillips deal but successfully recovered their money after filing a lawsuit against Brooks.

The trial is expected to take two weeks.