- Officials Going after Canada’s Most Effective Pyramid Scheme Whistle-Blower — Again ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Dave Thornton is indisputably a thorn in the side of Canada’s government and some government employees. He has repeatedly blown the whistle and exposed criminal pyramid scheme fraud, which the authorities were ignoring or, in some cases, joining. He is Canada’s most effective citizen watchdog against pyramid and Ponzi schemes. He has been featured on national Canadian shows, Market Place, Fraud Squad TV, and in the French language magazine, Protégez-Vous. Yet, in a country that has become infamous for allowing frauds, Thornton is treated by the government as a threat. Officials have even claimed that Thornton’s factual – and later fully vindicated – expose’s of Canadian pyramid schemes were “paranoid delusions.”
- The infamous “Women Helping Woman” fraud originated in Canada before spreading worldwide and causing millions of victims. Thornton was a leading whistle-blower against that fraud. • More recently, the government of Australia determined that a Canadian based multi-level marketing scheme, Canadian Diamond Traders is a pyramid fraud. Thornton has led an effort – to no avail – to get Canadian authorities to investigate this Canada-based scheme.Now, government school officials are claiming that Thornton “assaulted” a student while in front a school passing out literature that warned about pyramid recruiting among students. The alleged assault consisted of “touching” a student’s wrist. Thornton denies the claim. He had sought and gained permission to pass out literature on public property and in full view of the school and the street. The court testimony from school authorities is contradictory. The case, though appearing to be trivial and concocted, has had the effect of virtually stopping Thornton’s important work. A single, retiree with only modest means, Thornton maintains the website, Crime Busters Now. But with a keen eye for spotting fraud and the tenacity to speak out, he was instrumental in bringing down two of Canada’s most notorious criminal pyramid frauds.
- One was called Pigeon King International, a financial Ponzi scheme that lured thousands of family farmers in Canada and some in the USA into a bogus pigeon breeding scam. Many farmers were ruined after mortgaging their farms to invest in the scam. The head of the scheme is now being criminally prosecuted. But for many months, as the scheme roped in more and more victims, Thornton sought to get regulators and police attention. The Canadian Competition Bureau (equivalent to the FTC in the USA), ignored the warnings and never took action, claiming technical definitions of a Ponzi, pyramid and multi-level marketing prevented regulatory action.
- The multi-level marketing fraud, Business in Motion (BIM), recruited tens of thousands of victims all over Canada. Billboards promoted its pyramid “business opportunity.” Millions were invested in the endless-chain scam. Thornton personally accused the scheme of pyramid fraud but he could not get the Competition Bureau or Police to act. At some BIM recruitment meetings, uniformed Canadian police officers guarded the doors. It was known that government employees and some police were participating. With Canadian officials allowing the scam to go on, the founder of BIM, Alan Kippax, sued Thornton for $10 million, charging that his claims of pyramid fraud were “defamatory.” Thornton defended himself, without an attorney, against a 24-person law firm… and won! The presiding judge concluded that though Thornton publicly called the scheme’s promoters “crooks”, he made a “prima facie” case that the scheme was, in fact, a pyramid scheme that paid earlier recruits with later recruits’ investments. The judge agreed that the court could not be a party to protecting such schemes.
- The ruling of Judge Quigley should have been enough to prompt immediate government prosecution of BIM, but it was ignored by the Canadian Competition Bureau. Canada’s highly respected investigative television news show, Market Place, on the CBC Network did an expos￩ of Business in Motion. In front of CBC cameras and later broadcast on national television, Canadian police arrested Thornton who was – peacefully and legally – picketing in front of a BIM recruiting meeting. Canadian police arrested Thornton and took him to police offices; then they immediately dropped charges and released him, an apparent harassment to protect the scheme.
- Eventually, the scheme and some of its top recruiters were prosecuted by the government for criminal fraud. The president of the scheme that sued Thornton, Alan Kippax, is currently in prison. But now authorities have made a charge that could put Thornton in prison and ruin him personally. The “assault” charge has Thornton, again, facing the full power of Canada’s government all by himself.For more information, reference HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN v. DAVID J. THORNTON, Information# 10-1955, in Burlington Ontario, before Justice Cooper. The prosecuting Crown Attorney is reachable at 491 Steeles Ave., E. Milton, Ontario L9T 1Y7,
Tel. (905) 878-7291.
Fax number of prosecutor. 905-693-3036
