VANCOUVER – B.C. investment adviser Ian Thow, who fled the country after defrauding 20 investors out of $10 million, has lost his bid to have his nine-year prison sentence reduced.
In a unanimous decision, three B.C. Court of Appeal justices this week dismissed the Victoria man’s appeal.
Thow pleaded guilty in March to 20 counts of fraud over $5,000.
Judge Jocelyn Palmer imposed the nine-year sentence, rejecting a recommendation for a seven-year sentence that was part of a plea agreement between Crown and defence lawyers.
Palmer noted that Thow expressed no remorse after years of exploiting personal relationships with mostly elderly people to strip them of their life savings, homes and investments.
Thow persuaded people to give him money to invest, but he never made those investments and kept the money for himself.
He was ordered to pay restitution of $3.9 million.
Thow was also told to submit a DNA sample because he had fled the country and had to be arrested in Portland, Ore., and returned to Canada for trial.
In his appeal, Thow argued the sentence was unreasonable and the judge did not properly consider his plea agreement. Those arguments were dismissed.
Thow is serving his sentence in the medium-security Matsqui Institution in Abbotsford, B.C.
The National Parole Board says he could be released in 14 months, if he becomes eligible for accelerated day parole.
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