'No way to recover': Victim reacts to conviction in massive Alberta Ponzi scheme

A Calgary man who defrauded investors out of tens of millions of dollars has been taken into custody after a judge convicted him in a decades-long Ponzi scheme. 

Arnold Breitkreutz, 74, was found guilty of fraud over $5,000 by Court of Queen's Bench Justice Colin Feasby, following a trial that took place earlier this month.

When charges were first laid in 2018, RCMP said there were hundreds of investors affected.

Those men and women invested in Breitkreutz's company, Base Finance, and believed their money was secured by mortgages on real estate in Alberta.

In reality, it was loaned to an oil and gas promoter and used in "a risky oil play in Texas and secured against oil and gas leases and equipment," wrote the judge in his 20-page decision.

A group of about a dozen investors were in the courtroom Wednesday afternoon for the verdict.

"He's been convicted and we know he's going to go to jail," said Bill Janman, an investor who lost nearly $3 million in the fraud.

"We actually stayed in the courtroom until we saw the sheriffs take him out through the back door, where they take prisoners out."

Although Base Financial began operating in the late 1980s and took investors' money for more than 30 years, the time period considered by the courts was over 16 months, from May 2014 to September 2015.

Investment losses in Base Finance totalled more than $100 million, but much of that falls outside the offence dates.

"There was no way to recover from the loss," said Janman, who is in his 70s.

In 1999, Janman knew someone who had invested in Base Finance mortgages. He met with Breitkreutz, put money into the company and got some back. He also received interest cheques. 

"Over time, we started to loan more," said Janman, who was trying to build his retirement savings.

In 2016, Base Financial was put into receivership and "everybody's world came to an end," said Janman.