Attorney Faces Up To Two Years Jail Time For Role In Purloining Millions From Trust Account, Fleecing One Client Out Of $1.7 Million In Home Sale Proceeds; Bar's Insurance Fund Coughed Up $3.5 Million In Victim Reimbursements So Far As Cops Peg Total Swindle At $5 Million

In Calgary, Alberta, CBC News reports:

• The prosecution wants former Calgary lawyer Floyd Campbell to spend 18 to 24 months in jail for his role in a real estate scheme that swindled investors out of millions of dollars.
  
  Peter Mackenzie told provincial court judge Anne Brown that a conditional sentence should not be made available to Campbell because of the breach of trust the former lawyer engaged in.
  
  Campbell stole $225,000 from an investor to help finance a fledgling development in Mexico. The money was supposed to be held in Campbell's trust account.
  
  He was originally charged with 30 counts of fraud and theft but pleaded guilty to just one count of theft involving the $225,000 from SWA Holdings Inc.
  
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  His lawyer, Derek Jugnauth, told the court Campbell has paid $427,000 in restitution and is trying to sell his Mexican properties to settle outstanding claims from investors. It's unclear exactly how much Campbell owes his former investors.
  
  Campbell admitted to the Law Society of Alberta that he misappropriated at least $3.5 million. The money was taken from investors who had provided funding for various bridge financing deals involving homeowners who had no knowledge their properties were being used in the scheme.
  
  Campbell also admitted to forging the signature of his former business partner, Brandon Antonini, on numerous occasions.
  
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  The law society's insurance fund paid out $3,527,854 related to six claims from investors. In 2015, the law society said it had received 22 complaints alleging misappropriation.
  
  Calgary police pegged the total amount of money stolen from investors at $5 million.
  
  Campbell was disbarred in April 2015.
  
  One of the complaints involved the sale of a property in northwest Calgary. Campbell admitted to misappropriating $1.7 million from the sale of the home to finance his business interests, including the real estate project in Huatulco, Mexico.
  
  Instead of forwarding the proceeds from the house sale to the sellers, Campbell left the province and moved to Winnipeg.

For the story, see Disgraced and disbarred, former Calgary lawyer faces up to two years in jail for theft (Floyd Campbell apologizes for his role in real estate scam that cost the Law Society of Alberta $3.5M). ripoff reimbursement