A Vancouver investment adviser is suing a longtime accountant and and the accountant’s land developer brother — who had been banned from trading in Canada years ago — after an investment in an Arizona land deal vanished.
Peter Stojak assured Pope that Patrick was a “successful and trustworthy businessman” with experience managing real estate deals for others, especially in Arizona. Three years after that ban ended, Peter Stojak was telling Pope that Patrick Stojak would personally manage the investments, Peter Stojak would take care of accounting, Pope would be kept informed of the investments, and he could withdraw earnings if he wanted and he would be paid out when the properties sold, according to the claim.
In late 2023, Pope had concerns his U.S. investments were being used for something else without his knowledge or consent, the expenses were inflated, and the Stojaks were managing the business negligently. The brothers replied with information that was “fluid, contradictory and confusing” and Pope suspected the explanations they had loaned the money to other businesses, made foreign deposits and potentially had the money seized by foreign governments were “blatantly false”.