324 replies to this topic

[spanky123]

Anyone taking bets on this? How about odds?

A couple of years back I spoke with an investigator reviewing a massive fraud that was occuring in Victoria. The investigator had looked at the file for about a month and come to an unfortunate but all too common conclusion. Although there was no doubt in his mind that fraud had occured and that millions if not tens of millions of dollars had been lost, the reality was that if he was to pursue the case, it would take all of his group's time for the next year and at the end of the day the case would not likely be successful in court due to many of the same issues we have here.

The reality is that white collar crime is notoriously expensive and difficult to prosecute in many cases. The punishments are very light, and without little old ladies complaining about their life savings being lost in the media, they get very little attention.

[Lorenzo]

I agree with you spanky 123. But damn, this is one onion I would love to see peeled back, layer by layer. It would probably make for some great reading, and numerous red faces.

[ArtStyle]

Is wondering how Len Barrie did in court today?

He would have to return the properties to the rightful owners before he is to gain any credibility which seems out of his character. Even if he was to do this it would not be enough to the degradation of that once natural habitat.

Elkington Forest seems to be changing the way we build for an actual future.

[Maverick]

What???world are you in?

[Bernard]

There is not enough space on the south island to have Elkington become a norm, 1000 acres to house 200 to 250 people means would have to build 10-12 Elkingtons per year just to meet the demand in this region let alone finally get ahead. That is 10,000 to 12,000 acres, that is about 16 square miles of land per year.

Elkington is interesting for it is, an attempt to make upscale urban sprawl palatable to the general public.

This site means the loss of about 1500 cubic metres of timber harvesting per year which has a value to our economy of about $450,000 per year

[Zoe]

Is wondering how Len Barrie did in court today?

The charges have not been dropped. Unless something changes, Barrie will have to enter a plea by March 29: either "guilty" and the judge will sentence him, or "not guilty" and a trial will take place.

[mysage]

I agree. I looked at Elkington Forest several months ago and loved it but found it was not very practical for our families lifestyle. I have seen people on this forum complain about Bear Mountains location being up on a mountain, its isolation, its lack of schools, its lack of shopping, its lack of a bus route etc etc (and God forbid - it snows up there at times). All of this and its strict control on housing styles and sizes are doing nothing but create an enclave for "McMansions" for the rich etc. Anyone liking Bear Mountain must be insensitive to todays social climate - right?.

While I think that what they are trying to do at Elkington Forest is great, don't be so naive as to think that it is a model that works could or should be for everyone. An examination of the facts shows that it's on mountain at a higher elevation than Bear Mountain, it has no schools, has a lack of shopping, has no public transportation, gets more snow than Bear Mountain and its building guidelines, while "greener" than Bear Mountains can only result in large homes that are very expensive to build and that only a select few can afford.

Before casting aspirations on Bear Mountain and its creators and comparing it to another development that arguably could be a little more ecologically sensitive do a little research - you might change your mind.

[Mike K.]

Elkington is lumping all homes into one corner of the property. It's no different than a typical suburban neighbourhood situated alongside of a park, but the residents of this development will be deprived of any commercial services within easy reach.

[Zoe]

More lawsuits: On January 24, Coast Capital Savings Credit Union filed four claims against a numbered company, 0719752 B.C. Ltd. The company address is 2800 Bryn Maur Road, suite 208 (formerly the head office for Bear Mountain Resort). Len Barrie is also named in the suits.

[mysage]

Elkington is lumping all homes into one corner of the property. It's no different than a typical suburban neighbourhood situated alongside of a park, but the residents of this development will be deprived of any commercial services within easy reach.

When I had talked to the Elkington Forest people they had told me that they planned some community garden areas where people could grow their own food and perhaps a small "farmers market" center where some of that could be sold. A nice idea but it seems that most of these nice idea are quite impractical when it comes time to implement them.

[Zoe]

I went ahead and started a new thread for Elkington Forest. All I've seen is the ads and the web page so the discussion should be interesting.

Just found the A-News coverage about the criminal investigation from last week. Interesting statements from people we haven't heard from before. Here's the Youtube video.

[hyslop911]

"The locals hate all of the Bare Mountain types - developers, investors, and residents. They destroyed the area, shaved the mountain of trees, paved everything in sight and have no regard for nature and the natural beauty of the area. They drive big piggish SUVs, suck up resources like water and have caused the box store creep.
How is Len Barrie going to make a billion dollars now? .... Langford residents should take back their town and drive this arrogant bastard into bankruptcy"

It seems Barrie is trying to pull himself out of the mess he created.

Very interesting documents ... Quote "Acquiring the HSBC debt, at a significant discount, represents the major opportunity for the future Bear Mountain Resort"

To see it enter in Google > "Barrie" site:ftp://65.116.84.225 <

As result you should see 7 documents in this list, they are not longer available BUT you can have a look at the Google 'cached files' or Quick View

Go to > ftp://65.116.84.225 to see other interesting documents

PM me if you need any help

[Mike K.]

Do you know who the owner of that FTP site is?

[Zoe]

Interesting! Hyslop, you need to turn the PM function on to get messages. I'm curious about the quote "The locals hate all of the Bare Mountain types ..." Where is that from? I don't think I've seen it before.

I'm reading the docs now. Cheers!

[mysage]

"The locals hate all of the Bare Mountain types - developers, investors, and residents. They destroyed the area, shaved the mountain of trees, paved everything in sight and have no regard for nature and the natural beauty of the area. They drive big piggish SUVs, suck up resources like water and have caused the box store creep.
How is Len Barrie going to make a billion dollars now? .... Langford residents should take back their town and drive this arrogant bastard into bankruptcy"

It seems Barrie is trying to pull himself out of the mess he created.

Very interesting documents ... Quote "Acquiring the HSBC debt, at a significant discount, represents the major opportunity for the future Bear Mountain Resort"

To see it enter in Google > "Barrie" site:ftp://65.116.84.225 <

As result you should see 7 documents in this list, they are not longer available BUT you can have a look at the Google 'cached files' or Quick View

Go to > ftp://65.116.84.225 to see other interesting documents

PM me if you need any help

WOW!

A little bitter are we?

Where have you come from?

"All the locals hate all of the Bare Mountain developers, investors and residents". - Not me. I wish I could afford to live there. I think it is one of the most beautifully developed resorts on Vancouver Island. Apparently many locals agree as they seem to buy property there on a regular basis ( and don't give me that BS about it being all out of town buyers). I have several people whom I work with in "average jobs" who own at Bear Mountain plus I have several friends who rent up there. Do a little reseach before you make wild claims.

"They drive piggish SUV and suck up resources like water". Really? You base this on what facts? I would suggest that large four wheel trucks and SUVs were in Langford long before Bear Mountain came along.

Bear Mountain has "caused the box store creep". Again wrong. The big box stores were approved and in most cases built long before Bear Mountain came along.

I would be interested to know how you think the locals should "take back their town and drive this arrogant bastard into bankruptcy". You obvioulsy have no ideas of the realities of implementing your statements. I have no need to "take back my town". I never lost it to Len Barrie or anyone else. I have better transportation, better parklands, better recreation facilities, better shopping, better business opportunites, more governemt services, better educational opportunites and really more of everything that contributes to a quality of life that I and my children desire. Whether Len Barrie is bankrupt or not doesn't interest me one bit and I don't care if he makes or loses billions. I like my town.

You do realize that Bear Mountain started in 2002 don't you? That is approximately 9 years ago. You seem like a "johnny come lately" who has no knoweldge of the facts and are just either spouting off some rhetoric that you have been told or you have a deep seated resentment towards others that don't follow your ideological ideas. Probably a combnation of both but welcome to VV. I am sure that you will find some like minded ill infomred people here that will agree with you.

[Zoe]

Strange that Len would be making investment deals in Mexico. Doesn't he still owe big piles of money to Langford, Revenue Canada, HSBC, et al?

From this document:

Re: Consulting Agreement ("Agreement") relating to the financing of an approximately 146 megawatt power generating facility in Apodaca, Mexico (“Property”) owned by Genermex.

This letter shall constitute the agreement (“Agreement”) between Len Barrie, 2300 Compass Pointe, Victoria BC V9B 6X4 ("LB") and Genermex S.A. de C.V., 2555 Flores Street, Suite 225, San Mateo, CA, 94403 (“GNMX”).

In return for GNMX providing capital from a source ("Equity Source") in the amount of $55 million total ("Equity Amount"), sufficient to provide deposits to M1T Holdings on behalf of LB and GNMX, and, whereas the Equity Source is demanding a 1% non-refundable fee ("Equity Fee"), as well as an additional 5.5% fee of the Equity Amount contingent upon consummation of the financing, LB shall pay the Equity Fee, assumed to be USD $550,000 without recourse to GNMX.

I noticed a couple references to confidentiality on the documents as well. Unfortunately, the site doesn't seem to be terribly secure.

[Zoe]

This undated document says Wall Street is going to loan him $300 million, using a life insurance policy as collateral. Excuse me for being skeptical.

Len Barrie has bought his model and business plan to the cutting edge funding talents of New York’s notable Wall Street. The firm of Napoleon Grier and notable attorney and CPA Burt Padell, are positioning Len for a 300 million dollar loan to cover any financial shortfalls and satisfy all existing debts on his resort and hotel resort that is worth a billion dollars.á

To secure this development expansion effort, a $300,000,000 (three hundred million dollar) life insurance policy is needed to serve as the collateral to protect the lender’s interest in the loan over a 5 year period. A universal life concept is being used because the policy builds up cash and equity that can be used, if necessary, to offset the cost of debt service on the loan. When the project is completed, the absolute assignment is removed and these policies will transfer over to Len’s Executive Bonus Plan structure. We are using 15 insurance companies to place $300,000,000 of coverage. We want to make sure that all participating companies are aware of the policy limit value being submitted to each firm.

The policies will be owned by the Westminster Trust. This is trust where Len’s loan will be held. The Trust owns the policies and is the beneficiary. We have two (2) trustees for this transaction and they are attorneys Greg T. Bailey and Wayne Young, Esq.

[gumgum]

WOW!

A little bitter are we?

Where have you come from?

"All the locals hate all of the Bare Mountain developers, investors and residents". - Not me. I wish I could afford to live there. I think it is one of the most beautifully developed resorts on Vancouver Island. Apparently many locals agree as they seem to buy property there on a regular basis ( and don't give me that BS about it being all out of town buyers). I have several people whom I work with in "average jobs" who own at Bear Mountain plus I have several friends who rent up there. Do a little reseach before you make wild claims.

"They drive piggish SUV and suck up resources like water". Really? You base this on what facts? I would suggest that large four wheel trucks and SUVs were in Langford long before Bear Mountain came along.

Bear Mountain has "caused the box store creep". Again wrong. The big box stores were approved and in most cases built long before Bear Mountain came along.

I would be interested to know how you think the locals should "take back their town and drive this arrogant bastard into bankruptcy". You obvioulsy have no ideas of the realities of implementing your statements. I have no need to "take back my town". I never lost it to Len Barrie or anyone else. I have better transportation, better parklands, better recreation facilities, better shopping, better business opportunites, more governemt services, better educational opportunites and really more of everything that contributes to a quality of life that I and my children desire. Whether Len Barrie is bankrupt or not doesn't interest me one bit and I don't care if he makes or loses billions. I like my town.

You do realize that Bear Mountain started in 2002 don't you? That is approximately 9 years ago. You seem like a "johnny come lately" who has no knoweldge of the facts and are just either spouting off some rhetoric that you have been told or you have a deep seated resentment towards others that don't follow your ideological ideas. Probably a combnation of both but welcome to VV. I am sure that you will find some like minded ill infomred people here that will agree with you.

Another objective viewpoint by a completely impartial participant.

[phx]

Wall Street is going to loan him $300 million, using a life insurance policy as collateral.

This makes less sense to me than a typical Nigerian email scam.

[mysage]

Another objective viewpoint by a completely impartial participant.

Your sarcasm is lost in this instance Gumgum as I have never tried to be impartial. I have always been pro Langford, pro Bear Mountain and for the most part pro development.

Posters like this last one just confirm for any thoughtful contributing person that the anti this and anti that crowd are shrill, ill informed and live in a world of negativity.

They are welcome to it while I and the vast majority of people contirbute to and enjoy our communities.