Fraud suspect no coward

Photo: Colin Dacre

A man wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for missing the start of his high-profile fraud trial in Penticton says he will be back in Canada to fight the charges within three weeks.

Loren Reagan is facing charges of fraud over $5,000, theft over $5,000 and unauthorized management of a lottery scheme in connection to a European hockey tour that never happened in 2012. The Crown also alleges part of the parents' money was used to fund an ill-fated hockey dorm project on the South Okanagan Events Centre campus.

Reagan was scheduled for trial on Sept. 11 alongside co-accused Mike Elphicke, but is currently overseas in Kuwait, dealing with what he claims to be passport issues.

Castanet News reached Reagan in Kuwait via telephone on Sunday.

“I made both my counsel, and my counsel made the courts aware, there was a good chance that this (the trial date) would be a problem for me,” Reagan said.

There is a considerable amount of bureaucracy and red tape involved in leaving Kuwait if a foreigner wishes to return to work in the country in the future.

He admitted to being in Canada for one week prior to the start of the trial, but claimed that staying to attend the trial would have cost him his job, severance and “half of my money that I worked for over here.”

“It wasn’t like I was ducking, or chickening out, or a coward. I’m far from any of those things,” he said, adding he’s hopes to be back in Canada within three weeks.

“I’m going to come back to Canada, and I’m going to address the issues that are in front of me. What else am I supposed to do? It's what I’m obligated to do. The charges are the charges, and I’ve got to come and deal with them.”

Upon his return to Canada, Reagan claims he will produce documents proving Elphicke was behind the crimes.

“I had absolutely zero involvement in the lottery, the fundraising, the administration of the bank accounts, anything,” he said, adding his primary focus was player recruitment.

A forensic accountant testified last week at Elphicke’s trial that the Okanagan Elite Hockey Association collected $128,000 from a group of parents for the overseas hockey trip.

The accountant told the courtroom $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.

“I don’t recall any monies that flowed directly to the dorm, out of OEHA, that weren't a repayment of my expenses, or repaying of the costs that I’d personally incurred to start the OEHA organization,” Reagan said, when questioned about the missing funds. “It was a business, they were businesses. They failed. There was no intent for the businesses to fail.”

“The bottom fell out of it. I couldn’t get the deal closed,” he said, referring to the hockey dorm. “I had the finances in place, the financing — the approvals got delayed, and my financing went away.”

He said the parents are to blame for the hockey trip falling apart, alleging they were late in making their payments and “didn’t complete their financial obligations.”

With him in Kuwait, the Elphicke defence has been attempting to paint the crimes as orchestrated solely by Reagan.

Mike Elphicke will take to the witness stand in his own defence Monday morning.