Waterloo Regional Police have charged David Villanueva with fraud, after a 14-month investigation. The veteran conman has six prior convictions, and has left a cross-Canada trail of victims. A convicted con man with a decades-long record of fraud is facing new charges in connection with an alleged Ontario Ponzi scheme.
CBC News also uncovered Villanueva's lengthy criminal past — six separate fraud convictions, with jail sentences totalling 17 years.A group of investors in Kitchener, Ont., say they are out millions of dollars after falling for an alleged Ponzi scheme. CBC’s Jonathon Gatehouse breaks down the allegations and the 30-year trail of deceit left by David Villanueva — the convicted fraudster suspected of being behind it.
According to newspaper databases and parole records, Villanueva's first federal fraud sentence was handed down in Sarnia, Ont., in 1995, where he had been operating as an unlicensed paralegal, representing injured workers and immigrants before government tribunals. Claims that should have been paid out to his clients ended up in his pocket instead. At sentencing, the presiding judge described Villanueva as a "liar" and "parasite," and handed him five years in jail.
He then resurfaced in Toronto, with a new identity and a new scam. Calling himself David Carter, and claiming to be a Miami-based lawyer, Villanueva set up a downtown law firm, advertising heavily in the local media. Carter-Herzog, as it was known, purported to be specialists in workers' compensation and immigration matters, and took on dozens of clients, charging large retainers.
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