Vancouver condo developer Mark John Chandler is “a financial predator,” a U.S. Federal Court judge said Monday while handing down a six-year sentence for a real estate investment fraud.
© Provided by Vancouver Sun Accused fraudster Mark Chandler (left) crosses the street on his way back to BC Supreme Court Friday, September 8, 2017 to attend his extradition hearing.
Chandler swindled 12 U.S. investors out of $1.7 million more than a decade ago, taking their money for a purported Los Angeles condo project that never materialized, and instead using it to buy himself a Mercedes-Benz, chartering a private yacht, luxury purchases and high-end dining, and vacations in Hawaii and Las Vegas.
Chandler has not been charged with any criminal offences in Canada, but has been the subject of dozens of civil lawsuits in B.C., with many alleging “fraudulent conduct.” Those cases were a factor cited by U.S. District Court Judge Percy Anderson in his reasons for sentencing Monday in California.
“What’s galling is that the defendant had opportunity after opportunity to do the right thing, and yet he continued to defraud anyone who would listen,” Anderson said. “This defendant was, and is, a financial predator. The evidence showed that he’d rob, victimize and exploit anyone for his own personal gain, and it’s no coincidence that this defendant has more than 77 civil cases filed against him, where there have been numerous accusations of fraudulent conduct.”
Anderson’s jail sentence exceeded the 51 months in prison that U.S. prosecutors had requested, and was almost three times what Chandler’s defence lawyer argued was appropriate.
Chandler, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud in October, was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,703,965.56. His lawyer said Monday he has no assets.
In the government’s sentencing position, filed in December, the U.S. Attorney’s office said Chandler’s “extensive fraudulent scheme” involved “creating fake checks and fake bank and investment documentation, as well as using fraudulent checks to trick his victims into believing he was a successful legitimate businessman and that their investments were safe when, in fact, … (Chandler) stole in excess of $1.7 million from his victims to fund his own lavish lifestyle.”
Chandler’s “brazen criminal conduct financially and emotionally devastated his victims,” and “caused his victims to suffer depleted retirement accounts, bankruptcies, and lost homes,” prosecutors wrote.
One of Chandler’s victims, a California-based doctor, spoke by phone at the hearing, saying Chandler “fully expected to get away with it, because he was going to go back to Canada and he never thought he’d be extradited. … He was just going to do whatever he wanted and hightail it back to Canada thinking he was safe there.”
The judge also sentenced Chandler to three years of supervised release, which prosecutors said was necessary because Chandler “egregiously” breached his bail conditions earlier. While Chandler was living freely in Metro Vancouver and fighting his extradition to the U.S., he was ordered to surrender his passport and not leave the country. But he used a second passport and flew by private jet to Mexico for a vacation.
Chandler’s lawyers fought his extradition through Canadian courts for more than three years, before his last appeal failed in October 2019. He was transferred to the U.S., where he has remained in federal custody.
Monday’s hearing was conducted on a Zoom online video conference, with Chandler appearing from inside the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Los Angeles.
When the judge offered Chandler a chance to speak, he read from a prepared statement and apologized to his investors and his family. Chandler’s time in jail, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, has been “the toughest experience I’ve been through during the 57 years of my life,” he said. Chandler contracted the COVID in prison, he said, and was “locked up 24 hours a day, being fed peanut butter and jelly for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
In B.C., Chandler has also been the target of enforcement action from regulators, before and after his time in L.A., including accusations he mishandled more than $10 million of homebuyers’ deposits after returning from California for a Langley condo project called Murrayville House.
The Murrayville fiasco caused serious hardship for dozens of hopeful homebuyers, as one B.C. Supreme Court judge noted in a 2018 judgment in one civil lawsuit, calling the situation a “house of cards” that left behind “no winners.” At one point, the B.C. RCMP was investigating Chandler’s actions at Murrayville, but told Postmedia in December 2019 they were no longer reviewing the matter.
Gary Janzen of Langley and his wife suffered significant financial losses and emotional distress after they signed a presale agreement in 2016 for a Murrayville home. After Monday’s sentence was handed down, Janzen said: “We’re glad that justice has been done. … But we’re very disappointed and discouraged there’s no justice here.”
Following the sentencing, Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, said: “Mr. Chandler’s lies resulted in substantial financial losses for his victims and a significant prison sentence for himself. Today’s sentencing underscores our office’s determination to bring justice to white-collar criminals — no matter how long it may take.”
dfumano@postmedia.com
twitter.com/fumano
Chandler swindled 12 U.S. investors out of $1.7 million more than a decade ago, taking their money for a purported Los Angeles condo project that never materialized, and instead using it to buy himself a Mercedes-Benz, chartering a private yacht, luxury purchases and high-end dining, and vacations in Hawaii and Las Vegas.
Chandler has not been charged with any criminal offences in Canada, but has been the subject of dozens of civil lawsuits in B.C., with many alleging “fraudulent conduct.” Those cases were a factor cited by U.S. District Court Judge Percy Anderson in his reasons for sentencing Monday in California.
“What’s galling is that the defendant had opportunity after opportunity to do the right thing, and yet he continued to defraud anyone who would listen,” Anderson said. “This defendant was, and is, a financial predator. The evidence showed that he’d rob, victimize and exploit anyone for his own personal gain, and it’s no coincidence that this defendant has more than 77 civil cases filed against him, where there have been numerous accusations of fraudulent conduct.”
Anderson’s jail sentence exceeded the 51 months in prison that U.S. prosecutors had requested, and was almost three times what Chandler’s defence lawyer argued was appropriate.
Chandler, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud in October, was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,703,965.56. His lawyer said Monday he has no assets.
In the government’s sentencing position, filed in December, the U.S. Attorney’s office said Chandler’s “extensive fraudulent scheme” involved “creating fake checks and fake bank and investment documentation, as well as using fraudulent checks to trick his victims into believing he was a successful legitimate businessman and that their investments were safe when, in fact, … (Chandler) stole in excess of $1.7 million from his victims to fund his own lavish lifestyle.”
Chandler’s “brazen criminal conduct financially and emotionally devastated his victims,” and “caused his victims to suffer depleted retirement accounts, bankruptcies, and lost homes,” prosecutors wrote.
One of Chandler’s victims, a California-based doctor, spoke by phone at the hearing, saying Chandler “fully expected to get away with it, because he was going to go back to Canada and he never thought he’d be extradited. … He was just going to do whatever he wanted and hightail it back to Canada thinking he was safe there.”
The judge also sentenced Chandler to three years of supervised release, which prosecutors said was necessary because Chandler “egregiously” breached his bail conditions earlier. While Chandler was living freely in Metro Vancouver and fighting his extradition to the U.S., he was ordered to surrender his passport and not leave the country. But he used a second passport and flew by private jet to Mexico for a vacation.
Chandler’s lawyers fought his extradition through Canadian courts for more than three years, before his last appeal failed in October 2019. He was transferred to the U.S., where he has remained in federal custody.
Monday’s hearing was conducted on a Zoom online video conference, with Chandler appearing from inside the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Los Angeles.
When the judge offered Chandler a chance to speak, he read from a prepared statement and apologized to his investors and his family. Chandler’s time in jail, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, has been “the toughest experience I’ve been through during the 57 years of my life,” he said. Chandler contracted the COVID in prison, he said, and was “locked up 24 hours a day, being fed peanut butter and jelly for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
In B.C., Chandler has also been the target of enforcement action from regulators, before and after his time in L.A., including accusations he mishandled more than $10 million of homebuyers’ deposits after returning from California for a Langley condo project called Murrayville House.
The Murrayville fiasco caused serious hardship for dozens of hopeful homebuyers, as one B.C. Supreme Court judge noted in a 2018 judgment in one civil lawsuit, calling the situation a “house of cards” that left behind “no winners.” At one point, the B.C. RCMP was investigating Chandler’s actions at Murrayville, but told Postmedia in December 2019 they were no longer reviewing the matter.
Gary Janzen of Langley and his wife suffered significant financial losses and emotional distress after they signed a presale agreement in 2016 for a Murrayville home. After Monday’s sentence was handed down, Janzen said: “We’re glad that justice has been done. … But we’re very disappointed and discouraged there’s no justice here.”
Following the sentencing, Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, said: “Mr. Chandler’s lies resulted in substantial financial losses for his victims and a significant prison sentence for himself. Today’s sentencing underscores our office’s determination to bring justice to white-collar criminals — no matter how long it may take.”
dfumano@postmedia.com
twitter.com/fumano
