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UPDATE OF APRIL 30 ,2021

 

On April 26, 2021, the court that sentenced individuals in the Next Level criminal proceedings made a follow-up forfeiture order.  As a result of that fresh forfeiture order, about $505,000 has been added to the Ministry fund out of which compensation to victims will be made in accordance with the terms of the below notice.

 

Since the below notice was published on November 19, 2019, the compensation process has been held up by the forfeiture proceedings that ended on April 26, 2021, by pandemic safety measures that preventing access to hard copies of some victim’s claims and by deficiencies in the documentation submitted by claimants.  Now that the first two problems have been resolved, the Ministry is working on verifying individual victim claims.

 

As the criminal proceedings recovered less money in total than was lost by Next Level victims, all compensation to victims will be on a pro rata basis which means that every claimant will get only a percentage of the funds they can prove they lost. Since the percentage of compensation will be partly a function of how many claims can be verified, that percentage cannot be calculated (and the cheques sent out) until the Ministry verifies all claims that fairly can be verified. That verification process is, at present,  hampered by the poor quality of some of the claims which must be gone through individually.  This will take time.

 

The Ministry understands the victims’ frustrations with delays but requests their patience in letting the process continue.

 

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The Ministry of the Attorney General has carriage of the restitution process in the Next Level Investments case. All claims for restitution must be made through the Ministry and not through Kingston Police.

***See the notice below for claim application details***

*Please be aware that if you submitted an online report to Kingston Police for restitution, the report cannot be processed and will not be reviewed by the Ministry.

 

ATTENTION: NEXT LEVEL CAPITAL GROUP INVESTORS

NOTICE

 

The Restraint & Forfeiture Office at Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General is in receipt of some limited forfeited proceeds of crime resulting from the prosecution, conviction and sentencing of certain individuals associated with the running of a fraudulent foreign exchange investment scheme in the Kingston area that went by the name Next Level Capital Group. 

 

The proceeds of crime were ordered forfeited at the sentencing of certain individuals who were involved in the investment scheme.  The forfeiture orders from the court provide that the forfeited proceeds are to be disposed of as the Attorney General directs.  The Attorney General has directed that the proceeds are to be voluntarily distributed to verified victims on a pro rata basis. 

 

The Restraint & Forfeiture Office has accordingly set up a limited compensation scheme designed to supplement but not replace any action that victims of the Next Level scheme have taken or may seek to take, at their own expense and initiative, in the civil courts. 

 

If you wish more information about whether and how to submit a claim under the Restraint & Forfeiture Office’s limited compensation plan, please send an email with your full name and contact information to:  MAG.RFO.Claims@ontario.ca 

 

All claims must be submitted no later than

5:00 pm (Toronto time) on March 31, 2020

 

Note:

 

  1. Your claim may be denied if you are unable to provide proof of your claim.  Proof of claim will generally require written proof of payment to Next Level by you. Your claim will be verified against what should be a corresponding deposit made to the Next Level books and accounts which were gathered during the investigation. Responsibility for proving a claim rests with the claimant. There is no entitlement to any compensation.
  2. The claims process will make every effort to give   fair and equal consideration to each claim, including at its discretion, requesting or seeking further information, but all decisions made under the compensation plan are final. The compensation plan is a supplement and not a substitute for action in the civil courts by investors.
  3. Successful claims will be paid out of the limited recovered funds on a pro rata basis and investors will recover only a portion of their losses.  The exact overall proportion of compensation to losses will be determined by the total amount realized from the sale of forfeited property and by the number and nature of the submitted and approved claims.
  4. Any investor who is dissatisfied with the claims process and who wishes to pursue a full recovery of their losses against the individuals who ran or profited from the fraudulent investment scheme must do so in the civil courts and at their own cost.