A pair of Calgary men have been found guilty of defrauding prospective vacation property owners of millions by selling land at a lake resort in B.C.
Three years after Craig McMorran was arrested, a Calgary judge has found him guilty of fraud, money laundering and stealing a cottage. McMorran’s employee, Gus Kalabalikis has also been found guilty of fraud.
The ruling was handed down in a Calgary courtroom on Friday, after 17 complainants testified during a two-week trial saying the two accused sold off property that had been foreclosed upon without telling them.
Investigators said between 2014 and 2017, McMorran sold fake RV park sites as the owner and operator of Sweetwater Resort, a land development project on the shores of Lake Koocanusa, B.C.
He also allegedly sold docking spaces for boats at the resort, but the marina is on Crown land and so those spots could not be legally be sold.
The Economic Crimes Unit opened a case when people who’d bought RV slots came forward with suspicions about the legitimacy of their purchases after communication between them and the man died out.
The investigation revealed that the RV spots were in fact invalid and as a result, the Sweetwater RV Park was ordered to close.
McMorran and Kalabalikis, who acted as the sales manager, were arrested in September 2021.
Police believed the men obtained more than $2 million from the fraudulent sales and, as of last May, investigators had identified 85 victims.
Court documents show Kalabalikis testified he was just doing what he was told and was unaware anything fraudulent was taking place. Evidence showed he had closed on sales in 2016 while knowing the land had been foreclosed on.