Photo: Colin Dacre

A man on trial in a high-profile fraud case admitted in Penticton court Monday he gave his business partner $20,000 they had collected from a group of parents for an overseas hockey trip that never took place as promised.

That money was spent on an attempt to secure financing for the failed hockey dorm project on the SOEC campus, Mike Elphicke testified, in his own defence.

Elphicke is facing charges of fraud and theft over $5,000 and unauthorized management of a lottery scheme in connection to the business dealings of the defunct Okanagan Elite Hockey Association. His co-accused, Loren Reagan, is in Kuwait and told Castanet he will return to fight the charges in a few weeks. A Canada-wide warrant was issued for his arrest at the start of the trial.

Elphicke told the courtroom that he and his wife, Tana, were pitched the idea for the Okanagan Elite Hockey Association in May 2011 by his friend at-the-time, Loren Reagan. The business would take high-level youth hockey players on a tour of Europe, and host hockey tournaments in the Okanagan.

The three partners planned to profit about $189,000 from the trip, minus their own travel expenses. Elphicke testified that Reagan focused on recruiting players, while he and his wife acted in a support role.

Elphicke said he learned of the hockey dorm proposal in Sept. 2012, when he was invited to a meeting by Reagan, also attended by then-Mayor Dan Ashton and staff with the City of Penticton.

Mike and Tana Elphicke incorporated a separate numbered company with Reagan to handle the dorm, with Mike testifying that he had nothing to do with the construction or financing of the project. He and his wife’s planned roles had to do with the operation of the complete dorm, he said.

Elphicke said Reagan was supposed to fund and secure the financing for the project himself, separately from the Okanagan Elite Hockey Association.

“The bank statement we received Oct. 15, I believe at that point he (Reagan) had withdrawn for personal — for what he said were expenses that he didn’t supply any receipts for — I think it was $5,000, one was $8,000, they were big totals.”

At one point, Elphicke said Reagan approached him asking for $20,000 out of the OEHA accounts to pay the financing fee on the dorm. Elphicke said he hoped by giving Reagan the money, they would be able to use the dorm mortgage to pay back the parents.

“Literally and figuratively, we were neck deep in this mess, and we thought it was our only hope to get the money back for the business.”

Earlier in the trial, a forensic accountant testified that of the $128,000 collected from parents for the trip, $44,000 was spent on the failed hockey dorm project, while Reagan took $38,000 and Elphicke and his wife benefited to the tune of $17,000.

During his testimony, Elphicke also admitted to taking a salary from money that flowed in from the parents for the trip, to offset his time not spent on his regular commission sales day job. There were multiple payments made to his wife’s company for work done for the OEHA.

The Elphicke defence has been trying to paint the crimes as orchestrated solely by Reagan.

The trial is expected to wrap up this week.