Feds Bag Bogus Clergyman Accused Of Running Upfront Fee Scam That Preyed On Desperate Developers Seeking Financing

In Central Florida, the St. Petersburg Times reports:

• Father Barney Canada, a make-believe Roman Catholic priest(1) accused of duping developers of Trump Tower Tampa out of $150,000, has been arrested and charged with swindling $2.7 million from developers across Florida and the United States. A grand jury in South Bend, Ind., charged Byron Levon Canada with 31 counts of wire and mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. The indictment was handed down in U.S. District Court on Dec. 9. Taken into custody Monday, Canada pleaded not guilty. Canada was charged with running an "advance fee scheme" that collected millions in application fees for commercial loans he never intended to provide.

***

• "Canada represented himself to be a priest and dressed in cleric garb when meeting with victims in order to give the defendants' advance fee scheme an aura of legitimacy and honesty," the indictment said.(2)

For more, see Fake Catholic priest accused of $2.7M fraud that includes Florida developers.

For earlier story, see Father Barney takes fees, leaves a host of developers behind.

(1) Canada has reportedly claimed to be a priest from a shadowy 19th-century offshoot of the Roman Catholic Church, according to this story.

(2) "Father Barney" has a history of being associated with advanced fee scam prosecutions that dates back a long time. See U.S. v. Barney Canada, 960 F.2d 263 (1st Cir. 1992).