Lack of co-operation stymies investigation into B.C. mortgage broker and missing $225M, court hears

Efforts to untangle the financial web of Victoria mortgage broker Greg Martel, who has been accused of running his business like a Ponzi scheme, have hit a brick wall, according to investigators trying to locate the many millions he owes to investors.

Receiver PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said in a report that Martel has not complied with court orders to produce financial documents and a sworn list of assets and has ignored requests for communication.

The report also raises more serious concerns about Martel's conduct and cites an email from Martel attempting to move assets from one American bank to another, purportedly to remove them from the scope of the court order.

Martel and his company, My Mortgage Auction Corp (MMAC), also known as Shop Your Own Mortgage, owes hundreds, maybe thousands of investors $226 million, according to a PwC list of unsecured creditors.

Martel's whereabouts are uncertain, and so far, investigators have not located the missing millions, nor have they recovered records proving the investments he sold actually existed.

Investor Ayla Stimpson came to B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver Wednesday to witness the proceedings in person.

Stimpson, who is due to give birth to her first child in two weeks, put in $300,000 in November 2022 after two Shop Your Own Mortgage employees assured her the investment was sound.

"I don't think that I'll ever see my money again," she said. "It's becoming clear that he's not co-operating, and there are no funds to pay back investors what they are owed."

Martel's lawyer, Ritchie Clark, claimed in an email his client is having trouble complying with court orders because he is "out of the jurisdiction due to having received a number of death threats and threats of violence to his family."

According to Clark, Martel also said he was having trouble accessing his records because staff at a number of his companies had quit.

But Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick was having none of the excuses, telling Clark that his client was putting himself in serious legal jeopardy by ignoring the court.

"I think it's manifestly the case that the information that has been requested either will be in his possession or control," said Fitzpatrick.

"The receiver's undisputed investigation ... indicates that he was the one running this company, and more critically, the one making these investments that all of these hundreds of investors are wanting to learn about in terms of recovery of loans made to the defendant."

WATCH | Legal system finds Martel's whereabouts are uncertain: 

Fitzpatrick restated the court order demanding Martel produce records and an asset list with a new deadline of May 26.

She also granted expanded investigatory powers to the receiver to possibly pursue assets in the United States, where Martel is involved in a number of companies, along with a provision allowing it to assign MMAC into bankruptcy if it deems it necessary.

"This court — including myself personally — do not take failure to abide by court orders lightly, and I sincerely hope [Martel] will fully appreciate that," said Fitzpatrick.

The next court date is June 9.