Crown looking for sentence of up to 12 years for man in multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme

The Crown is asking that a Calgary man who bilked clients out of millions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme be sentenced between 10 and 12 years in prison.

Arnold Breitkreutz was convicted June 29 of fraud what the Crown described as a multimillion-dollar scheme in which investors believed they were putting money into safe first mortgages.

Court heard the money from his company, Base Financial, was instead loaned to an oil-and-gas promoter and used in a risky oil play in Texas that secured against oil-and-gas leases and equipment.

Crown attorney Shelley Smith says Breitkreutz was in a position of trust and defrauded scores of people of up to $21 million in a 17-month period beginning in May 2014.

The Crown is also asking that Breitkreutz pay back $3.1 million in restitution.

The court received 29 victim impact statements.