Episode F26 — Investment Opportunity Fraud: Selling a Story That Was Never Real
Episode Summary
This episode explains the difference between a failed investment and investment fraud. Investments can fail for legitimate reasons, and loss alone does not prove criminal conduct. The fraud question is whether investors were dishonestly induced to part with money or expose their economic interests to risk through false representations, misleading promises, hidden risks, false security, or misuse of funds. The episode connects investment files to the core Criminal Code fraud framework: dishonest conduct, deprivation or risk, causation, and the accused person's knowledge. It also explains why hope that a project might succeed does not necessarily defeat fraud if the accused knowingly exposed investors to dishonest risk. For investigators, the episode provides a practical method for testing investment complaints by comparing what investors were told, what was true at the time, how funds were used, and what the accused knew.
What You'll Learn
- • How to distinguish failed investments from investment fraud
- • Why investor loss alone does not prove fraud
- • How risk of deprivation applies to investor money
- • Why use of funds and accused knowledge are central evidence
Key Investigator Takeaways
- • Start with the investment story told to investors
- • Compare pitch materials and promises against actual use of funds
- • Build the case around representations, investor reliance, money flow, and knowledge
Cases Discussed
Visual Mind Map
Transcript
Show transcript
Episode F26 explores Investment Opportunity Fraud: Selling a Story That Was Never Real for Canadian fraud investigators…