A Quebec man who allegedly claimed he could use his influence as a federal official to flow grants to farmers to expand into Western Canada has been charged in Trois-Rivieres with two counts of fraud.
Kevin Gossellin-Robitaille, 24, of Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel, was arrested Nov. 17, according to a release Thursday from Quebec City RCMP’s commercial crime section.
Gossellin-Robitaille, who RCMP said filed for personal bankruptcy in April 2007, is alleged to have posed as an influential federal official who, in exchange for financial contributions, could obtain “substantial government grants” for expansion of ag businesses into Western Canada.
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On this basis, RCMP said, he is alleged to have “swindled” a couple from Becancour out of $700,000, and another couple from Richmond, Que. out of about $2.2 million in a “similar scheme.”
“The individual pretended to have a lavish lifestyle, inviting his victims abroad in luxury hotels on several occasions,” RCMP said.
Based on the investigation by RCMP and the Surete du Quebec, it’s believed “the money he used to pay for these expenses was in fact the money he received from the creditors.”
The alleged offences occurred “on a continuous basis” between 2006 and this year, RCMP said.
While RCMP described the victimized couples as “working in the agriculture sector,” CBC on Friday reported the couples to be farmers seeking to expand their operations into the West.
“We’re hoping that if there are other people involved in that type of fraud or with that person, they will contact us and we’ll do the investigation and help them on that, too,” CBC quoted RCMP Cpl. Luc Thibault as saying.
