A financial services consultant who befriended his handyman’s widow, defrauded her out of life insurance money and gambled it all away on risky investments in a few weeks must now pay it all back, and more, according to an Ontario judge. The scam began in 2005, when Gemnay hired Richard Nicholson to do some work on his house, and kept him on for further work, which led to a friendship. Gemnay’s position at trial was that he was only helping Nicholson set up a trading account, and teaching her to manage a portfolio. “There is no doubt it was financially successful almost exclusively because of his abilities and efforts,” Judge Sloan wrote. “No friend or caring human being would allow this to happen, if they could stop it,” the judge wrote.

Source: National Post May 23, 2016 14:56 UTC