Ex-escort found guilty of $800Gs fraud

Ex-escort testifies at fraud trial

OTTAWA — After days of testimony about paid sex, faked pregnancies, spurious miscarriages and deadly car crashes, former escort Darquise Lecuyer took the stand Monday at her fraud trial.

Lecuyer's testimony took barely 15 minutes as her lawyer, Bruce Engel, tried to bolster his client's credibility.

On Friday, Crown prosecutor Jason Neubauer accused Lecuyer of lying to the court.

Lecuyer faces fraud and extortion charges after allegedly scamming $800,000 from her client Doug Macklem, who thought he was funding a resort and a life with his escort-turned-fiancee in the Dominican Republic — until she was supposedly killed in a 2006 Christmas car crash. Macklem suffers from cerebral palsy

On the stand, Lecuyer admitted to lying during an earlier civil case brought against her by Macklem, but she said she did so "out of fear" — fear of a boyfriend named Nolan Johnson whose violence and threats she dreaded.

She said he had warned her not to slip up.

"The fear is still there," she testified. "The difference now is I've had enough."

"I'm trying to do right."

Johnson was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon in 1990 and for obstruction in 1987.

The court also heard that Lecuyer had been found to be in contempt of court twice — in March 2009 and November 2010 — for failing to disclose financial information to the satisfaction of the court.

Judge John Johnston warned the jury they may only use Johnson's criminal record and Lecuyer's contempt findings to assess the credibility of her evidence.

The Crown and defence begin their closing statements on Tuesday.

Jury deliberations are expected to begin Wednesday.

Fraud sp trial

The article above reminds me of a few Merbites that i've met over the years.....

Ex-escort found guilty of $800Gs fraud

By Tony Spears, QMI Agency

OTTAWA - An escort accused of conning her disabled client out of $800,000 by pretending to be his girlfriend was found guilty Thursday afternoon.

A jury convicted Darquise Lecuyer of conning Douglas Macklem, a man who thought he had found the love of his life in the svelte, blond figure sitting in court.

She remained motionless as her defence lawyer asked that the jurors be individually polled.

It only confirmed the verdict: Guilty of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. Guilty of extortion and money laundering. Guilty of possessing the proceeds of crime.

Macklem was choked with emotion, laughing and crying all at once as supporters congratulated him.

"So?" asked Crown prosecutor Jason Neubauer outside the court.

"Success," Macklem said.

The long-suffering man said he didn't care what the sentence will be.

"That's not for me to decide," Macklem said. "I have no vindictive feelings at all."

"We did it," he added softly, his voice muffled by a hug.

Macklem met Lecuyer when he hired her for sex and companionship in 2004. Paying about $650 for three-hour sessions, he would pay her a lot more after she convinced him she loved him.

She wanted to buy a resort in the Dominican Republic, she told him. Two villas where they'd live and rent out rooms, a fleet of cars and jet skis.

He mortgaged the house willed to him by his mother, took out lines of credit and started nibbling at his RRSPs.

For mortgage payments on the villas, she said. For a beach-cleaning tax. For Doberman Pinschers because she didn't feel safe on the Caribbean island.

She also told him she was pregnant with his child, though they'd always used condoms. She threatened to abort the fetus -- which never existed -- when he grew reluctant to throw more money her way.

And on Christmas Day 2006, he was told in an e-mail that she'd died in a car crash.

Judge John Johnston allowed Lecuyer to remain free on bail for at least one more night, though Neubauer asked for her to be immediately taken into custody.

Neubauer and defence counsel Bruce Engel will argue the matter Friday morning.

Ex-escort found guilty of fraud