The financial history of the gunman who killed 22 people in Nova Scotia in 2020 is sprinkled with red flags, but few were transmitted or collected by authorities until after his uproar, according to new documents presented as part of the investigation. about the tragedy. .
The latest founding document from the Mass Accident Commission discusses Gabriel Wortman’s suspicious banking activity, inappropriate billing practices, and a possibly aborted plan to defraud a federal immigration program.
“The evidence described below suggests that the perpetrator accumulated money and other property through a number of illegitimate or suspicious means,” the commission notes.
“While there are no definitive answers on the sources of all their income, there is a clear pattern of embezzlement.”
Living beyond reported income
As part of its investigation into the shooting, the RCMP commissioned a report from federal financial investigators to review the finances of the gunman and those of his de facto spouse Lisa Banfield.
The financial review report said that between 2012 and 2019 the gunman reported an average annual income of $ 39,916 from his business, the Atlantic Denture Clinic. The commission’s report said it reached $ 29,036 in disposable income.
But the Department of Community Services said the gunman’s clinic received $ 434,406 between 2015 and 2020 in provincial funds to provide services to clients receiving employment and income support and those of the Program. support for the disabled.
“Obviously, the assailant did not declare his income,” commission attorney Ronke Akinyemi said Tuesday.
The review noted that in addition to his salary, an additional $ 232,907 was deposited into his personal accounts and another $ 96,753 was deposited into his joint account with Banfield during that period.
Dwayne King, the commission’s chief financial investigator, said the gunman’s spending habits and lifestyle exceeded his reported income.
For example, from December 2017 to May 2020, the author spent about $ 20,000 on PayPal and just over $ 23,000 on the GCSurplus site. – About 87 percent of their reported disposable income.
King also noted a mismatch in the amount Banfield spent compared to his declared average annual salary of $ 15,288.
In an interview with the commission, Banfield said the gunman “was not claiming what he actually did” from his dentistry clinic. He described how he would collect cash from patients and, at the end of the day, take them to the residence the couple shared above the clinic.
Banfield said he would also cash the checks patients made to the gunman and give him the money. He said the gunman told patients to do checks on him compared to the clinic.
According to the report, the couple declared their taxes as “unmarried,” despite living together for 19 years.
Banfield told a commission attorney he did not know why that was the case. Tax returns were prepared by an accountant and not an accountant. The former is not required to report to the Financial Transaction Analysis and Reporting Center of Canada (FINTRAC).
Lisa Banfield, Gabriel Wortman’s civil law wife, testifies at the Commission for Massive Victims ’investigation into the 2020 Nova Scotia murders in Halifax on Friday, July 15, 2022. In an interview with the commission, Banfield went to say that the gunman “was not claiming what he really did” from his prosthesis clinic. (The Canadian Press / Andrew Vaughan)
The commission said there is also evidence to suggest the gunman claimed personal purchases on his CIBC Visa card as business-related expenses.
The Canada Tax Agency did not say whether the federal agency was aware of the gunman’s suspicious statements.
“In order to ensure the integrity of our work and to respect the confidentiality provisions of the acts we administer, the Tax Agency of Canada (CRA) does not comment on investigations that may or may not have been conducted,” said spokeswoman Hannah Wardell in an email to CBC News.
The investigation reveals incorrect billing
In 2005, the Denturist Licensing Board of Nova Scotia initiated an investigation into the perpetrator for improper billing and for tracking allegations that he was aggressive with patients.
Board records show that the gunman had the practice of billing the insurance provider the full amount of the fee, but only charging the patient the portion that was covered by his insurance, resulting in a discount for to the patient. Two insurance companies told the board they felt the practice could be considered fraudulent.
The gunman said he did not realize the practice was incorrect and signed a settlement agreement in 2007 with the board.
Cash is found on the property
When police combed the burned grounds of the gunman’s house after the shooting, they found a metal container buried underground. In it: eight packages of cash for a total of $ 705,000.
Banfield said he believed some of that money came from the property of his friend, Tom Evans.
Evans’ will did not pass through a will and no records are available as to the value or content of his estate.
Although the gunman said the New Brunswick lawyer had no assets of any real value, the commission said several witnesses later told the RCMP that he benefited financially from being the sole beneficiary. of the Evans property.
The gunman had a history of hiding money around his properties, Banfield said, and it was “normal” for him to have large packages of cash.
During a search of Gabriel Wortman’s Portapique country house, the RCMP discovered this metal ammunition container hidden underground under the deck and containing cash. The money was in $ 100 bill packages totaling $ 705,000. (Mass Victims Commission) One of the packages of $ 100 bills found in a metal ammunition box hidden underground under the gunman’s house in Portapique. The total cash amount found was $ 705,000. (Mass Victims Commission)
As previously reported, the perpetrator withdrew $ 475,000 from an account at CIBC in March 2020.
Banfield said he buried that money in a canvas bag in the cottage.
A senior CIBC corporate security director said the request was unusual and that he was worried, but that the money was “clean,” which meant it didn’t cause red flags.
“As he introduced it and obviously there are no flags, nothing was abnormal, no flag came out, nothing was activated,” Joe Morgado told the commission in an interview.
He said other customers, such as the gunman, were concerned that the onset of the pandemic would cause the banks to collapse.
Suspicious deposits triggered the 2010 report
Following the mass casualty, the Canadian financial intelligence agency transmitted information to the RCMP about suspicious transactions, but FINTRAC had the gunman on the radar in 2010, according to documents.
In August 2010, the gunman deposited $ 70,000 in cash into a TD Bank account in the name of one of his companies, Northumberland Investments Ltd. About two weeks later, he deposited another $ 130,000 in cash in the same account before withdrawing the $ 200,000 by bank transfer to his account.
The cash deposits caused TD to send a report of suspicious transactions to FINTRAC. Banks are required to report suspicious transactions “if there are reasonable grounds” to suspect money laundering or terrorist financing.
The Mass Victims Commission said it is unclear where the $ 200,000 cash package came from. The commission said it contacted TD Bank, Scotiabank and CIBC, all institutions with which it dealt with the gunman, to get any clues, but the banks said these records fall outside the maintenance deadlines. of records.
TD’s suspicious transaction report also mentioned a $ 154,000 deposit (roughly at the same time as the $ 200,000 cash deposits) in the Northumberland account from a trust account in Alan GD Irvine’s office. The account also received a $ 78,000 credit from the trust account.
“FINTRAC did not appear to inform local authorities of this report or take any further action,” the commission wrote.
Twenty-two people died on April 18 and 19, 2020. Top row from left: Gina Goulet, Dawn Gulenchyn, Jolene Oliver, Frank Gulenchyn, Sean McLeod, Alanna Jenkins. Second row: John Zahl, Lisa McCully, Joey Webber, Heidi Stevenson, Heather O’Brien and Jamie Blair. Third row from above: Kristen Beaton, Lillian Campbell, Joanne Thomas, Peter Bond, Tom Bagley and Greg Blair. Bottom row: Emily Tuck, Joy Bond, Corrie Ellison and Aaron Tuck. (CBC)
Because Canada’s Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act has strict rules on sensitive information, FINTRAC said it “cannot comment on any decision to remit or not to remit a [suspicious transaction report] to law enforcement “.
After the shooting, PayPal Canada Co. and TD Bank reported suspicious transactions to FINTRAC detailing credit card payments and purchases and cash deposits.
In its explanation, PayPal said it identified an account linked to the gunman “which is believed to have been used to make purchases of items used to facilitate domestic terrorist activities.”
On April 22, 2020, days after its completion, FINTRAC sent the suspicious transaction report to the RCMP saying it has “reasonable grounds to suspect” that the information is “relevant to an investigation or prosecution of ‘a crime of money laundering’. ”
On May 1, 2020, FINTRAC said it sent more information to the PayPal and TD Mounties about the gunman buying police items, such as a center console for a 2013 Ford Taurus, a ram for the para -Front shocks of a Taurus sedan, siren lights, a dashcam, a thin blue vinyl sticker, and a gun frame.
The gunman disguised himself as an RCMP officer and was driving a replica of the police cruiser while killing 22 people on 18 and 19 April 2020.
Plans to defraud the immigration program
Documents released Tuesday also detail how the gunman had begun outlining how he could scam the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program.
The federal program, launched in 2017, aims to fill the gaps in local labor markets by …