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CEO, lawyer granted bail pending appeal in blockbuster Knowledge House fraud

Former Knowledge House Inc. president and CEO Daniel Potter, left, speaks to reporters at the courthouse in Halifax on Friday, March 9, 2018. Brett Bundale/The Canadian Press

Two architects of a sophisticated multimillion-dollar stock market scheme have been granted bail, a day after being sentenced to prison for conspiracy and fraud in one of the most complex cases of white collar crime in Nova Scotia history.

READ MORE: N.S. judge jails Knowledge House officials in massive stock fraud

Daniel Potter, the former CEO of the defunct tech firm Knowledge House, and former lawyer Blois Colpitts have been released pending the outcome of an appeal.

The disgraced executives were found guilty in March of conspiracy to manipulate the firm’s share price and carrying out fraudulent activities in a regulated securities market.

Nova Scotia Court of Appeal Justice Cindy Bourgeois signed the bail orders today after the two agreed to multiple conditions, including handing over their passports, remaining in the country and reporting weekly to police.

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They have also each entered into a recognizance in the amount of $100,000, with family friends agreeing to act as a sureties.

Crown attorney James Martin told the court Potter and Colpitts did not pose a flight risk, and that there was no concern they would commit further offences.

The court is now expected to set dates for the appeal, which Bourgeois said is expected to be “well into 2019.”

READ MORE: Crown seeks 10 years for former executives behind Knowledge House collapse

On Wednesday, Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Kevin Coady sentenced Potter, 66, to five years and Colpitts, 55, to 4 1/2 years.

“In my view, there is virtually no risk that either Mr. Potter or Mr. Colpitts will reoffend,” Coady said in his decision.

The co-conspirators used multiple manipulative techniques to prop up the firm’s share price.

Though the Crown had estimated the fraud was about $86 million, Coady said he would not put a specific dollar figure on the scheme, instead calling it a “large scale multimillion-dollar fraud.”

Knowledge House, the once high-flying Halifax technology darling, developed software the company promised would revolutionize the elementary, high school and post-secondary education systems.

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WATCH: N.S. judge jails Knowledge House officials

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N.S. judge jails Knowledge House officials

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