“I would like to be in prison”

Photo Jean-François Cloutier
Loretta Clune, installed in Florida, said having to live very frugally since Hans Black has squandered his savings.

Jean-François Cloutier

Sunday, 15 October 2017 08:00

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Sunday, 15 October 2017 08:00

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A widow of 83 years would have seen the value of his portfolio collapsed after the montreal businessman Hans Black did invest in 2010 in a handful of investments very risky.

Loretta Clune is one of two investors in the us that have filed a lawsuit against Hans Black, his son, Alexander Black, and an employee of Interinvest (firm Black), Stanley Schmidt, at the end of 2016. She claims to have lost $ 700,000 in US in the hands of Black.

“I would like to be in prison,” said Loretta Clune at a meeting in Florida. She is said to have confided to US $ 1.5 million in the Black in 2006, and a further sum afterwards.

For four years, Black has managed in a relatively correct its investments, she said.

From the end of 2010, however, she “began to observe a slow decline in the value of [its] portfolio,” she said. From 2010 to 2013, ” Dr. Black had purchased large quantities [of shares of very small companies] “, she says.

Amorfix Life Sciences is one of these small companies. The current prime minister of Quebec Philippe Couillard has chaired the board of directors from 2010 to 2014.

According to a statement of investment, in December 2013, the participation of Ms Clune in Amorfix was substantial.

Most investment advisors recommend that investors of the third age, not to purchase securities as risky as this one.

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Hans Black, Interinvest

“Conflict of interest “

Loretta Clune said not to have discovered that in 2015 the personal involvement of Black companies in which he was investing. She had never been aware of the fact that he was receiving payments from these companies.

According to the lawsuit, Dr. Black has received 30 000 to 40 000 $ of Amorfix. He exercised “significant control” on Amorfix and had received ” substantial benefits and consideration “.

“If I had been aware of this serious conflict of interest, I would have put an end [to the relationship], and I would never have invested in these companies “, she argues.

Change of direction in 2010

The allegations of Loretta Clune overlap those of John Stanley, a single woman without a job with a child and his father to load, codemanderesse in the pursuit.

She is said to have begun to do business in the Black in 2000. “For the first 10 years of our business relationship, she said, Dr. Black, Interinvest and its employees have provided excellent service to the customer […] and the investment strategies were suitable. “

But as of 2010, Interinvest is engaged in “investments in extremely risky that were clearly not suitable for [its] investment objectives,” she said.

She also said to be selling shares of Amorfix and other junk.

Serious problems

The continuation reveals that Black had at this moment several problems on the back. In 2004, 2006 and 2008, investors have filed against the Black of the proceedings related to the investments they could not recover.

In 2009, a segment of the show Investigation, Radio-Canada, was treated to a criminal investigation aimed at Black for fraud in Bermuda, which, however, has not led to charges. The financial markets Authority (AMF) set Black to the fine in 2008 and 2009.

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Philippe Couillard, Prime minister

Philippe Couillard

Philippe Couillard was appointed to the board of Amorfix at the invitation of, inter alia, Hans Black, who was sitting. He did, however, have had no contact with the investors flouées nor has it participated in the development of their investment strategy.

In 2015, during a press conference following the revelation, by our Bureau of investigation, a prosecution for fraud against Black in New Hampshire, Mr. Couillard has acknowledged that the C. A. of the company had been alerted by a “report of Radio-Canada” on the activities of Mr. Black. “We have asked Mr. Black to explain the situation. He protested with the force of his innocence, saying that it was baseless allegations and that the matter would be settled. And there was no follow-up to that, ” he commented.

In early October, a judge sentenced the default Hans Black and his firm Interinvest to pay US$ 1.4 MILLION to the two poursuivantes.

EXCERPTS FROM THE PROSECUTION

“Tyhee, Amorfix, Williams Creek Gold and Wi2Wi are shares with very high risk, little liquidity and low prices that were totally not suitable for my goal of preservation of capital and my low risk tolerance. “

“I discovered that Dr. Black and Interinvest have continued to make additional purchases in all of its businesses (including Amorfix) even after their value had collapsed to less than a few pennies per share. “