The president of the board for the BC Centre for Elder Advocacy and Support (BCCEAS) says board member at large Paula Psyllakis has stepped down voluntarily after the organization learned that Psyllakis was indicted for conspiracy to commit securities fraud in New York in July 2015.
Ken Kramer, a lawyer and president of the BCCEAS board, confirmed to Business in Vancouver that Psyllakis tendered her resignation on April 5 after admitting that she was facing conspiracy to commit securities fraud charges in New York.
“We were not aware of this development,” Kramer said. “We take this matter quite seriously.”
Kramer said he spoke with Psyllakis and “she acknowledged the issue and has advised us, in the interests of preserving and protecting the organization, that she will be stepping aside.”
She provided a resignation letter and the organization accepted it, Kramer said. Psyllakis had been with the organization since August 2015.
The centre’s executive director Martha Jane Lewis told Business in Vancouver that she had been unaware of the charges Psyllakis faces in the United States.
“All I know is she’s doing college courses,” Lewis said when BIV reached her by phone. “And she used to be on the board in Toronto of the elder law clinic, which is part of the Ontario legal aid program, and that’s where we got our references from.”
Lewis said Psyllakis had no involvement with her organization’s finances, adding that it was “awful” to hear about the indictment.
The centre gets its funding from the provincial and federal governments and from the Law Foundation of BC, a non-profit foundation that receives interest on funds in lawyers’ pooled trust accounts, and distributes grants for legal education, research and reform.
BCEAS has several “Frauds and Scams” workshops later this month.
According to an indictment handed down in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York from July 2015, Psyllakis managed the back office operations of Legacy Global Markets, an offshore broker-dealer and investment management firm with offices in Panama and Belize. Her husband, Brian De Wit, was Legacy’s president and primary broker. However, co-defendant Gregg Mulholland, who is awaiting trial in New York and currently being held at Brooklyn’s metropolitan detention centre, is alleged to have controlled the operation secretly.
The U.S. government claims De Wit and Psyllakis “were actively involved in the fraudulent manipulation” of an OTC bulletin board firm called Cannabis-Rx Inc., in addition to other companies, including Cynk Technology Corp., at the behest of co-defendants Mulholland and Phil Kueber.
Kueber pleaded guilty to his part in the scheme in September 2015.
Mulholland, meanwhile, has pleaded not guilty. He faces a lawsuit in BC Supreme Court from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over assets held in Canada allegedly bought with money from the conspiracy.
The commission is seeking trust over Mulholland’s property at 3630 Mathers Avenue in West Vancouver and has since amended its claim to include a property at 2978 High Point Drive in Whistler.
The lot had been listed for sale, but realtor Maggi Thornhill told BIV in a phone interview that her company removed the listing after hearing about the lawsuit through a third party that she declined to identify.
The SEC claims the company that was used to buy the Whistler property is a shell to defraud creditors, much the same way as co-defendant Vision Crest Consulting.
In early March 2016, Vision Crest’s corporate registration was changed. It now lists Gregg Mulholland’s wife Delia Mulholland as its sole director at the couple’s Mathers Avenue mansion, and its registered office address was changed to 2900-550 Burrard Street, which houses law firm Fasken Martineau DuMoulin.
Before the amendment, the company’s attorney information listed its address at 1105 Duchess Avenue in West Vancouver; however, the address has not existed since being subdivided nearly a decade ago, according to District of West Vancouver records.
David Stephen Schindler of Calgary, who was listed as Vision Crest’s attorney on its registration before the change, denied involvement with the company when reached by BIV.
“I have no involvement. I think you’ve got the wrong person,” Schindler said, before hanging up.
Vision Crest’s current attorney, Robert Millar with Fasken Martineau, declined comment when reached by BIV.
“I don’t discuss my client’s affairs with the press,” Millar said, “so I’m simply not going to respond to your questions without instructions from my client.”
Psyllakis has not appeared in court in the U.S. to face the charges, and the SEC’s lawsuit against Mulholland contains allegations that have not been tested or proven in court. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, the prosecutor in the case, did not respond to requests for comment.
Mulholland and Vision Crest had not filed a response to the SEC’s claim by press time.
