Man awarded $742K after being scammed by B.C. couple he called 'mom' and 'dad'

A property in Vancouver’s Fairview neighbourhood, a botched line of credit, a trusting French man and an older couple he considered pseudo-parents are at the centre of a messy legal battle in B.C. Supreme Court.

A property in Vancouver’s Fairview neighbourhood, a botched line of credit, a trusting French man and an older couple he considered pseudo-parents are at the centre of a messy legal battle in B.C. Supreme Court.

On Oct. 5, Justice Warren Milman ordered the defendants, Gordon and Jeannine Kapelus, to pay more than $742,000 in damages for stealing Francois Milly’s life savings under the guise of friendship and legal guidance.

The plaintiff’s lawyer tells CTV News the case is an example of affinity fraud, a type of investment scam in which victims are targeted as members of a particular group, such as a religion and race.

“It’s often said a conman has to show trust in the person they’re going to defraud,” explains Les Mackoff.

According to the judgment, Milly met the Kapeluses in 2009, a few years after immigrating to Canada from France. Since he saw the pair as his surrogate family, he often referred to the Kapeluses as “dad” and “mom.”

Mr. Kapelus is a retired lawyer, which is one of the reasons Milly turned to him for legal advice in June 2016. He had just sold his property and invested the proceeds, only to learn TD Bank had made an error while generating a payout statement for the sale.

That left one of two lines of credit unpaid, and TD was refusing to discharge the mortgage until the bank received repayment.