'Swindler' gets probation instead of jail because of COVID-19
CBC News | Posted: May 11, 2020 11:06 PM | Last Updated: May 11, 2020
Richard Robert Good is allowed to leave his house once a day while living under probation
A man who breached a permanent ban from B.C.'s securities regulator by suckering friends out of their money has been given probation instead of a jail sentence because of the threat of COVID-19 behind bars.
In a statement, the B.C. Securities Commission said that Richard Robert Good was sentenced to two years probation, including a term of house arrest, for breaching a 2007 lifetime ban on engaging in investor relation activities.
According to the BCSC, a Salmon Arm provincial court judge found Good had enticed a woman who lived with his best friend and brother-in-law to invest money with him in 2013 and 2014.
He promised to use the woman's money to invest in securities but spent most of it on his personal expenses.
'Exposed as a swindler and con artist'
The judge found that Good's actions mirrored the behaviour that earned him the ban in 2007, when he convinced investors to place $2.4 million with him in exchange for what he said would be high returns.
Instead, he spent most of their money on himself and what he purported to be interest and capital investments to some of the people who gave him funds.
"In 2007, Mr. Good was exposed as a swindler and con artist. By that time, lying was a way of life for him," the judge said in the most recent case.
"There is no indication that he has changed."
According to the BCSC, the judge found that a suspended sentence would be more appropriate than a jail term because of the threat of COVID-19.
The Correctional Service of Canada has reported outbreaks of the coronavirus in a number of its facilities, including Mission Insitution, where more than 100 inmates and staff have tested positive.
Good will have to comply with a probation order that would see him allowed to leave his home for one hour a day.