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A B.C. Supreme Court judge has streamlined a process to claw back millions of dollars from investors who profited unfairly from a major real-estate Ponzi scheme.
The case involves now-deceased Kelowna, B.C., man Curtis Gordon Quigley, who over 12 years stole more than $8.3 million from dozens of investors through a scam that promised high yields through real-estate flipping.
By the time he was declared bankrupt in June 2020, some of his victims had handed over their entire life savings.
Quigley and his two pet dogs drowned near Okanagan Falls in June 2024, the year before his case was due to be heard in court.
Fraud and money laundering charges against him and his co-accused partner Kathleen Treadgold were subsequently stayed, leaving limited options for the more than 70 creditors who claimed he owed them money.
A court-appointed insolvency trustee managed to raise $528,000 through the sale of Quigley’s boat, motorcycle and his half-interest in his Kelowna home.
In addition, they recovered $1.4 million from 28 “investors” who profited from Quigley’s scam — dubbed “net winners” — but failed to reach an agreement with 12 other net winners who reportedly owed the estate $2.5 million.
On Wednesday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick said any excess funds paid to net winners were “void” and needed to be repaid.
She approved an application by the trustee to streamline and expedite the recovery of those funds, negating the need for long and costly civil lawsuits.
“I would suggest that there is a benefit to proceeding summarily in most bankruptcy proceedings, so as to minimize costs and increase the recovery to the creditors in a quicker timeframe,” Fitzpatrick’s judgement said.
The process approved by the court means outstanding debts held by the net winners should be paid to the estate in coming months, paving the way for the “net losers” who suffered financial loss to recoup some of what Quigley took from them.