Insurance broker pleads guilty to 15 fraud charges

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This article was published 08/06/2010 (5573 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG – A former Great-West-Life insurance broker has pleaded guilty to defrauding 15 former clients out of several hundred thousand dollars.

Gary Palmer, 64, brought his Queen’s Bench trial to a sudden halt this week by deciding to accept responsibility to many of the charges he was fighting. Palmer, who was acting as his own lawyer, admitted to 15 counts of fraud. The Crown agreed to drop nine other related charges.

He remains free on bail and is expected to be sentenced this fall.

Palmer had tried to delay the start of his month-long trial in early May, claiming he wasn’t properly prepared for it. Queen’s Bench Justice Perry Schulman refused to grant an adjournment, saying Palmer has had plenty of time and was only trying to drag out the proceedings.

Palmer was arrested in October 2006 following a lengthy investigation. The Crown says Palmer persuaded numerous clients to make withdrawals from their investments on the premise he would transfer the money into higher-performing funds. He then allegedly took nearly $1.5 million for his own personal use, including vacations, car payments and family expenses.

Palmer was working as an independent agent with the company over the eight years he was accused of swindling the victims, who ranged from wealthy professionals to single parents. The Crown had planned to call many of the former clients as witnesses during the trial, although one man has since died, court was told.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca