Close X
Sunday, November 24, 2024
ADVT 
National

Man Who Pledged Millions To B.C. Hockey Team Sentenced On Unrelated Fraud Charge

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 16 Mar, 2018 05:18 PM
    CRANBROOK, B.C. — A man who promised millions of dollars to a junior hockey team in southeastern British Columbia has been placed on six months of probation after pleading guilty to an unrelated fraud charge.
     
    Mike Gould also faced a second charge of using a forged document but it was stayed when he appeared Thursday in Cranbrook provincial court.
     
    In addition to probation, Gould was also fined $4,000 and must complete 60 hours of community service.
     
    Gould was charged last October after he hosted a celebration for the Kimberley Dynamiters and hockey officials following his promise to donate $7.5 million to the team and the Kimberley Minor Hockey Association.
     
    He wrote a check to cover the $8,000 bill for the dinner at a local restaurant but it was returned because of insufficient funds in the account.
     
    Gould has said he won a 2008 jackpot in a EuroMillions lottery but has never disclosed the value and in past interviews he has blamed problems with a bank for preventing the transfer to the hockey team.
     
    Lawyer Morne Coetzee told the court her client took the cheques to provide payment to the restaurant in a moment of panic because he couldn't liquidate some financial assets that had been frozen.
     
    Gould settled the tab with a cash payment six weeks after the event.
     
    "I'm very sorry for my mistakes," Gould told Judge Lynal Doerksen. "I should never have done it in the first place and I'm kicking myself in the ass for it."
     
    Despite the eventual payment to the restaurant, the fraud charge still stood, said Crown counsel Kristian DeJong.
     
    "He's still convicted of it because a fraud is a fraud. You don't undo these things once they're done and that's why he was sentenced," DeJong said outside court.
     
    The Crown had asked for the $4,000 fine, 12 months of probation and 60 hours of community service. The defence argued the appropriate sentence should be a higher fine of up to $15,000 that he was able to pay, but no probation and community service of 20 hours.
     
    Doerksen said co-operation with police, an early guilty plea, and repayment to the restaurant were mitigating factors in sentencing. 

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Indian-Origin Archdeacon John Perumbalath Appointed Bishop Of Bradwell In UK

    Indian-Origin Archdeacon John Perumbalath Appointed Bishop Of Bradwell In UK
    An Indian-origin archdeacon in the UK has been appointed as area Bishop of Bradwell in the Church of England’s Diocese of Chelmsford.

    Indian-Origin Archdeacon John Perumbalath Appointed Bishop Of Bradwell In UK

    Canadian Who Plotted Terror Attacks Deserves Life In Prison: U.S. Prosecutors

    Canadian Who Plotted Terror Attacks Deserves Life In Prison: U.S. Prosecutors
    U.S. prosecutors are requesting a life sentence for a Canadian man who admitted to plotting terrorist attacks on New York City landmarks at the behest of a high-ranking Islamic State operative.

    Canadian Who Plotted Terror Attacks Deserves Life In Prison: U.S. Prosecutors

    Search Continues For Accomplished B.C. Climber Missing In Alaskan Range

    Search Continues For Accomplished B.C. Climber Missing In Alaskan Range
    Marc-Andre Leclerc, 24, of Squamish, B.C., and his climbing partner Ryan Johnson, 34, of Juneau, Alaska, have been missing for nearly a week.

    Search Continues For Accomplished B.C. Climber Missing In Alaskan Range

    Vancouver Police Say Mom Accused Of Parental Abduction May Have Dyed Boy's Hair

    Vancouver Police Say Mom Accused Of Parental Abduction May Have Dyed Boy's Hair
    Police say Shawana Chaudhary, also known as Shawna, could also have changed her own appearance and may be using an old legal name.

    Vancouver Police Say Mom Accused Of Parental Abduction May Have Dyed Boy's Hair

    Richmond RCMP Investigating ‘Suspicious' Death Of Man Pulled From Fraser River

    Richmond RCMP Investigating ‘Suspicious' Death Of Man Pulled From Fraser River
    Mounties in Richmond, B.C., are investigating the suspicious death of a man whose body was pulled from the water near Steveston Harbour this weekend.

    Richmond RCMP Investigating ‘Suspicious' Death Of Man Pulled From Fraser River

    Missing 25-Yr-Old Vancouver Man Saeid Mirzaei Katik Lahijani Possibly Hiking Near Grouse Mountain

    Missing 25-Yr-Old Vancouver Man Saeid Mirzaei Katik Lahijani Possibly Hiking Near Grouse Mountain
    The Vancouver Police are requesting the public’s assistance in locating missing 25-year-old Saeid Mirzaei Katik Lahijani who was last in contact with family shortly after 5pm yesterday.

    Missing 25-Yr-Old Vancouver Man Saeid Mirzaei Katik Lahijani Possibly Hiking Near Grouse Mountain