Sketchy investment opportunities offered through a family-run financial services company defrauds at least 160 investors, the RCMP reports.
A couple from Kitchener, Ont. has been charged in connection with an alleged $21-million investment fraud, the RCMP reported Wednesday.
Vincent Carl Ciccone, 64, and Karen Rose Thomson-Ciccone, 60, were arrested and charged with fraud over $5,000, said investigators from the RCMP's Serious & Organized Crime team.
An investigation was launched after police received a number of complaints from investors. According to police, at least 160 investors were allegedly defrauded of over $21 million between 2006 and 2010, after being enticed to invest in the Ciccone Group of Companies through day-trading, property development opportunities and resort properties.
"The majority of the funds were not invested by the accused and were instead re-directed to other non-interest paying schemes," the RCMP says.
The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) and the Forensic Accounting Management Group (FAMG) contributed to the investigation, alongside the RCMP.
The allegations have not been proven.
The accused are in custody and were scheduled to appear in a Kitchener court on Wednesday.
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