Former Alberta CFO charged with defrauding agri-business group $2.5M

Last week, Edmonton police charged the former chief financial officer of a local agri-business organization with 12 counts of fraud over $5,000.

Patrick Stephen Bieleny, 52, was arrested on Feb. 21. He has since been released and is scheduled to appear in court on April 10.

In late 2015, the agri-business organization, which the Edmonton Police Service does not name, started an internal audit after an employee noticed a suspicious expense.

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“As a result, the organization reportedly discovered that millions of dollars of corporate funds had been allegedly misappropriated through transfers, non-business billings and other means,” the EPS news release said.

The CFO was fired in April 2016.

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In August 2016, police were alerted and detectives with the EPS Economic Crimes Section started investigating.

They confirmed that “approximately $2.45 million had been allegedly defrauded between 2009 and 2015,” police said.

Several reports show Bieleny was named chief financial officer of the Nilsson Bros. Group of Companies (“Nilsson”) in 2002 and served in the position for several years.

Bieleny has also worked as CEO for Western Financial Group, was CEO of XALTA Capital Partners Ltd., and was a past director of Agriculture Financial Services Corporation, an Alberta Crown corporation.

The entire board at the Agriculture Finance Services Corp., including Bieleny, was dismissed in June 2016 over concerns with executives’ expense claims.