Nova Scotia Ponzi scammer to be sentenced

A Nova Scotia con man whose Ponzi scheme fleeced Nova Scotia churchgoers and others out of millions of dollars will be sentenced later this month for fraud.

It remains one ofthe biggest securities swindles in the province's history.

"It's been serious in that a considerable amount of money was involved," said Chris Hansen, director of communications for the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service.

Quintin Sponagle of Upper Vaughanquietly walked into a Halifax court on Dec. 22 and pleaded guilty to one count of fraud over $5,000.

Three other charges related to the Ponzi scheme he masterminded were dropped.

A fraud of biblical proportions

Sponagle's scam company was called Jabez Financial Services a reference to a biblical blessing of prosperity.

Regulators from the Nova Scotia Securities Commission revealed in a 2011 hearing that church groups, includingthe Rock Church in Lower Sackville, were targeted by Sponagle and his business associateTrevor Hill.

Regulators said of 189 investors, 137 from Nova Scotia were bilked out of $4.1 million in 2006.

Investors couldn't resist the promise of turning $10,000 into $1 million in less than four years.

Some liquidated their RRSPs and even a child's inheritance.

Sponagle spent the money investors sent to Jabez on himself, indulging friends, relatives and business associates, including Hill and his family, the commission said.

Both were fined $500,000 by the commission.

As the mastermind, Sponagle was later charged with fraud and theft by the RCMP.

Some of the money, $1.4 million, was eventually recovered for investors from a Curacao bank account by court-appointed receiver PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Left for Panama as authorities closed in

Sponagle was long gone by the time the securities commission and the RCMP acted against him.

In November 2006, he flew to Panama after securities commissions in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labradorbegan investigating Jabez Financial.

He was arrested in Panama in 2013 at the request of Canada, unsuccessfully fought extradition and was returned to Nova Scotia in 2014 to face charges. He pleaded not guilty.

Jail time a factor

Sponagle's surprise reversal ended years of legal manoeuvring.

The Public Prosecution Service said it hasn't yet decided the sentence it willseekfor Sponagle.

"One of the things that the Crown will take into consideration is that Mr Sponagle spent well over a year in a Panama prison. So there has been over a year in custody," Hansen said.

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