David Baines' muckraking

[Norbert Schlenker]

Ian Thow, senior vice-president of Berkshire Investment Group Inc. of Victoria, had bought the 56-foot yacht, which he named Swept Away, a year earlier for $1.5 million.

It had become one of the favourite playthings owned by Thow and his wife, Teresa, who also worked as a broker at Berkshire. Other expensive toys included a $3-million Citation 11 jet, which Thow used to fly friends and family to Las Vegas and Cabo St. Lucas, and a $900,000 US Bell 206 Jet Ranger helicopter he parked on a pad at his two-acre, $4.6-million waterfront home in Saanichton.

"The way I see it, a boat this grand deserves such a family," wrote the author of the Sea Ray article. "A charmed life indeed, but only because the Thows make it that way."

That charmed life has since fallen to pieces. Thow's marriage has crumbled, and on May 31 he wrote a letter to his clients saying he was "terminating" his employment with Berkshire and relinquishing his licences "to pursue other business interests."

"It has been difficult for me to make this decision to leave Berkshire," he said. But it is not clear that it was his decision to make.

Since his departure, Berkshire clients have filed four lawsuits against him, claiming he induced them to buy what he purported to be shares of the National Commercial Bank of Jamaica, then told them they were making huge investment returns, but failed to redeem their investments when requested. They are claiming combined losses of $3 million.

These alleged losses, however, may be just the tip of the iceberg. Other Berkshire clients, some of them prominent Vancouver Island businessmen, invested millions more and haven't got their shares or their money. With Thow's fortune -- if he ever had one -- dissipating, they are looking to Berkshire for answers.

Berkshire, named as a co-defendant in all four suits, has quickly moved to distance itself from what it characterizes as Thow's "outside business activities."

Meanwhile, M&P Mercury Sales Ltd. -- which sold the Sea Ray to Thow -- has seized the boat, claiming he still owes them $525,000. The Citation 11 has also been grounded by litigation launched by a co-owner. Thow is not returning calls.

Local authorities have started to probe the matter. On Monday, B.C. Securities Commission investigators were interviewing some of the plaintiffs, and on Tuesday, police said they were also getting involved.

"We have read recent media reports and are reviewing the situation," said Sgt. Tim Alder of the Vancouver RCMP Integrated Market Enforcement Team. ...

Baines, Vancouver Sun

[Bylo Selhi]

Barry Critchley of the Notional Past has devoted at least three recent columns to this.

- Investors describe dealings with Thow
- Ex-manager's clients turn to the courts
- Mysterious exit for Berkshire's Thow

Subscription required. (Should I post them on the Liberated Post website?)

[steves]

Have you seen a picture of this guy? He is about as far removed from a slick, multi-jet owning, playboy-come-securities maven as you could imagine.

There is a picture of Norshield's John X in today's NP. Now, that's the kind of image I would have picked for Mr Thow.

Maybe it's his after-shave.

[westinvest]

Speaking of David Baines and muckracking, this month's BC Business has an interesting article The Most Hated Man in Business

[beaverlodge]

Is what he writes the truth?
Or is what he writes false?

If it is the truth there are systems in place to deal with his revelations

If what he writes is not there are systems in place to deal with the writer David Baines.

What am I missing? If anything.

[active]

Unfortuntedly he wrote the truth. At least that part of the truth that has become public so far.

I expect this to be a 30 M - 50 M fraud case at the end of the day and many more stories will come.

What will happen to Ian? I slap on the wrist and maybe a short visit in a Club Fed halfwayhouse. Then he will be free to enjoy what has not been pissed away so far.

But there is hope. There are a few US citizens among the 'investors' and at the SEC the wind blows harder.

[Feeonly.ca]

This will free up a number of individuals for better relationships. Weeding out the bad is a very good thing.

[Bylo Selhi]

In today's NP (and I imagine other rags) there's a large ad by Berkshire. Basically it says that since Thow was only licensed to sell mutual funds and insurance, anything else he may have sold, including shares of MLC's favourite Jamaican bank, he did without their knowledge or approval.

[yielder]

In today's NP (and I imagine other rags) there's a large ad by Berkshire. Basically it says that since Thow was only licensed to sell mutual funds and insurance, anything else he may have sold, including shares of MLC's favourite Jamaican bank, he did without their knowledge or approval.

You should have posted this in July Humour. I guess no one was watching or no one wondered about the toys he was accumulating.

[Bylo Selhi]

You should have posted this in July Humour.

Sheesh...I just can't win. Yesterday I stood accused of "poking" (at another site) and today it's for not poking (fun.) Now make up your mind, eh?

[yielder]

You should have posted this in July Humour.

Sheesh...I just can't win. Yesterday I stood accused of "poking" (at another site) and today it's for not poking (fun.) Now make up your mind, eh?

You're mixing me up with the Moderator. He has no sense of humour at all.

[active]

I understand the same ad will be in our local Times Colonist tomorrow.

All investor plaintiffs so far have Birkshire as an additional defendant. Of course they knew nothing, eh.

The problem might be, as I was told by one of the plaintiffs, that an Ontario investor in the sceme contacted him and advised that last September he wanted his money back and that his lawyer contacted Birkshire and that they intervened and that Ian Thow then paid him out right away. So they must have known for at least 8 months before Thow got fired.

Question:

Would Birkshire not be insured against any potential fraud of an advisor?

[Bylo Selhi]

Hiding in plain sight

On July 11, 2003, Ian Thow was operating at the top of his game. The gregarious mutual fund salesman seemed to have it made: A senior vice-president of Berkshire Investment Group, Thow owned a $4.6-million mansion; a fleet of cars... and a handful of private jets that could fly him and his clients to exotic destinations at a moment's notice... So it came as a major shock to many when, on Sept. 8, 2005, at 1:30 a.m., Thow fled Canada, crossing the border into the United States at Blaine, Washington, with a flourish of his U.S. birth certificate, just ahead of pursuing RCMP. Left behind were 73 former clients and friends—who claim he ripped them off for more than $32 million—and a growing pile of lawsuits...

[WynnQuon]

The title of this thread threw me off! Isn't "muckraking" a term for irresponsible journalism?

[Icarus]

The title of this thread threw me off! Isn't "muckraking" a term for irresponsible journalism?

Nope.

[dakota]

The title of this thread threw me off! Isn't "muckraking" a term for irresponsible journalism?

Nope.

Muckraker = S***disturber in layman terms

[beenaround]

I have read many posts on various boards on the subject of Ian Thow.
Thow told Berkshire that he inherited a lot of money. That was Thow's explanation for his lifestyle and wealth. So what was Berkshire to do? Ask for proof? We all know that there are trillions of inheritance dollars coming to baby boomers, of which Thow was one. An inheritance is very very believable. And as to why Thow still worked with all this "wealth", well look at Michael Lee Chin, arguably a very very weatlthy man, he still works. What is not true is that Thow and MLC were close or friends. Thow manipulated to meet his own objectives, just like any other sociopath. A fat man, prone to indulgence. And another truth that is not often said. Most of the affected investors were well off and many were interested in what they thought was a tax evasion investment and did not ask a lot of questions, most are not the poor little old ladies that the press has portrayed, In many cases they were as greedy as Thow. I don't condone his behaviour, clearly he is a twisted crimminal. Inheritance.

[WynnQuon]

The title of this thread threw me off! Isn't "muckraking" a term for irresponsible journalism?

Nope.

Thank you, I stand corrected!

[active]

Beenaround, isn’t that great? The guy is a crook but it does not really matter as most of his victims were rich to start with. It should not matter if this is the case but this is not how it was.

Thow never claimed he inherited money, at least not when I was there. He claimed he made the money with MLC and the Bank in Jamaica. He claimed that he had mortgaged his house to the max and put it all on one card and it paid handsomely.

Just another crook? I would agree with that. I was never at risk. I am way too conservative in financial matters.

The real pain is that with all victims known and all the money flow documented by forensic accountants the lame RCMP still has not filed charges against him.

Canada, the heaven of crooks, thieves and stock market manipulators? I don’t like it.

And I don’t like him being able to blackmail some of his investors because of a ‘mistake’ they made on board when flying with him to Vegas, and he has the pictures to prove it.

My prediction: He will eventually be punished for the pain he caused to MLC the Jamaican way. Watch out Ian. Voodoo can be ugly.

[spatz]

The little old ladies who lost their life savings I have sympathy for. The wealthy folks who thought that they could hide $$$ from the CRA deserved what they got in my opinion.

I don't buy into the naughty photos as the reason for Thow's victims continuing to bankroll them. What we know is that a good portion of the $32M that Thow alledgedly stole from his victims is unaccounted for. We also know that the real number is much higher than $32M as a number of the large victims never came forward and/or understated the amount that they had lost.

Ian was a very bright guy and knew that his world would unravel at some point. He didn't need pictures to ensure cooperation, he had far more valuable information.

[active]

There is no indication that anyone ever tried to do soemthing here without CRA.

Just because there was an investment in a financial institution in another country involved does not mean it would not be on the books in Canada.

I do agree that some people did not come forward. It would have hurt their standing in their profession. They were too ashamed.

He might not need the pictures to ensure cooperation, but he has the pictures and he was not shy showing them. I know people who saw them and I believe they are telling the truth.

I take it your handle refers to the subject. Funny.

[spatz]

Several media outlets have reported Ian having himself and "guests" bring back $10K in cash every time they returned from Jamaica. It was also repoted early on that the CRA was investigating some of Thow's schemes and said that they would disallow any claims for losses filed by certain people. I also know of people who claim to have been approached to hide $$$ offshore. You are right in that none of this adds up to proof.

I didn't work for Ian as you say you did but I have a very good friend that did. He told me that the flight logs were removed and copied just as Ian was skipping town along with many of the notes and files Ian had kept. From what I hear, the contents are of far more concern to some people than a few pictures.

I don't blame those who didn't come forward. They knew they were not getting anything back and why advertise that you got taken in by Ian. This also works to Ian's advantage. The BCSC will levy the maximum fine (which he will never pay) and ban him from working in BC. The RCMP will do nothing since the small guys have all settled and the big losers won't cooperate. A year from now there won't be any story left to report and Ian will be scott free. Although many people would love to see Ian planted in the desert outside of Las Vegas, doing so would only bring the story back to the forefront and get the RCMP asking more questions.

[beenaround]

Active. I am not sure what you mean by "when I was there" and the reference to Thow claiming that he made the money on MLC, Jamaican bank etc. My point was from the Berkshire Corporate perspective, which is being blamed for not "smelling" that something was amiss is this, I repeat. The fraudalent Jamaican bank transactions were not "on the books" at Berkshire, how could they be expected to supervise transactions that were not passed through them? Thow may have told the investors that he made the money on MLC and the Jamaican Bank, he sure never said anything like that to the Berkshire compliance or any other Berkshire person, that would have initiated an investigation toot-sweet. He claimed that he inherited the money from his late mother. I agree with the poster who said that the folks who were trying to scam CRA got what they deserved in some respects. caveat emptor. this however does not even begin to excuse the behaviour and fraud that Thow committed. A fat blowhard who needs adoration to feel good. Pathetic

[active]

What I mean with "when I was there"? No, I am not a financial advisor and I did not work with him. But I stood in line at a number of Buffets with him, several of my friends lost money (some big time) and we were both members of the same clubs. I even knew him when he was still with Investors. I once flew in the Helicopter but I was never in the plane.

You will agree with me that Ian was not the silent type so when he was bragging you could hear him well.

I am not sure if Berkshire is all that innocent here. Complience should have known at least for a year before Ian came down. Once the first complaint from Ontario came in he should have been flagged.

But I do feel sorry for his Victoria office manager at Birkshire, who is in my opinion a very honest soul who was devastated by what happened. He might have been a bit naive.

When a very close friend of mine wanted to invest with him and he asked me to check Thow out it only took me a coupe of hours on the internet to see that he was fake.

The price movements and the volume of the stock of the bank in Jamaica could not explain the gains Ian was talking about.
Two of the planes he claimed to own were registered in the name of a leasing company. The cars from Three Point were leased. Then I heard that the donations to GVHF were never paid. Vickers started sniffeling at parties about his paintings not being paid in full.

My friend kept his money in his pocket.

If there was any wrongdoing in respect of taxes and CRA, this alone should get him charges filed. How many cooperating witnesses do you need to file charges? There are some prepared to testify for sure. Why would the civil settlement with Berkshire prevent someone from cooperating with police unless it is Berkshire to make this a part of the settlement? Why would they do that if they are all that innocent?

Why would Scotiabank fire people if this is all about some greedy strangers trying to avoid taxes.

Anyway you cut it: I have no problem to see who is the crook here and he should be nailed to the wall.

[spatz]

Ian may have quietly told his compliance people that he inherited the money but he was very loudly telling everyone else that he was an asute investor. You don't get too many clients investing huge sums of money based on your experience inheriting money from mommy. Whether compliance never heard or listened to anyone else we will likely never know.

Rhetorically I would ask questions like how did Ian settle on the Bank of Jamaica? Prior to his involvement with Berkshire he was a virtual nobody. Obviously he had some special relationship with the Bank to allow him and his buddies to walk in and out with large sums of cash without anyone at the Bank asking questions. From Lyle Jenish's report, Canadian Banks told Ian to move on whenever they sensed something was amiss.

How much money is really missing? I have heard estimates ranging from $50M - $80M. If the numbers are really that high who has the balance? People tell me that you don't get to Alex Sr. without going through a lower echelon of associates. How many of them were involved and what role did the "stars" that hung around Ian have or did Keifer and Chad play with Ian because they liked fat rich people?