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A former London financial advisor whose assets recently were frozen amid ongoing legal battles faces more than a dozen additional criminal charges, court records show.
London police arrested Robert (Randy) Hawken, who operated Dufferin Financial Group before retiring in the spring, on Sept. 12 and charged him with fraud of more than $5,000 and possessing property obtained by crime valued at more than $5,000.
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Police alleged Hawken, 66, defrauded 19 people out of more than $2 million by collecting money for investments never made, dating back as far as 2003.
Court documents show Hawken faces 18 additional charges – 17 counts of fraud and one count of possession of stolen property – and the list of complainants has grown to 28 people.
The initial charges against Hawken grouped the complainants together, but the new charges were laid for each individual complainant or couple, at the request of the Crown attorney, police spokesperson Sgt. Sandasha Bough said.
Hawken was re-arrested on Oct. 23 and released on an undertaking, a document created by either a court or police that places the charged person under conditions. His case returns to court Nov. 26.
The new charges were laid the same week Superior Court Justice Kelly Gorman issued an order freezing all assets belonging to Hawken, his wife Cheryl and an incorporated company he controls, Amsaral Holdings.
The order applies to three properties – 554 Waterloo St. and 558 Waterloo St. in London and 10138 Edmonds Blvd. in Grand Bend – as well as all assets held at financial institutions. The London houses, one of them the former office for Dufferin Financial Group, were listed for sale in March but taken off the market in September.
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The order was obtained through a motion brought forward by a couple who launched a $580,000 lawsuit against Hawken on Sept. 27.
Ten lawsuits have been filed against Hawken this year, some of them listing his wife and Amsaral Holdings as co-defendants.
The Free Press interviewed multiple complainants in the case and reviewed court filings that allege Hawken encouraged his clients to buy guaranteed investment certificates with annual interest rates between four and five per cent. But the complainants allege their money wasn’t invested and their initial investment never returned.
London police contacted the complainants in the spring and told them they’d been identified as victims in a potential fraud after a staff member at Dufferin Financial Group tipped off police and provided a list of the alleged victims, according to a statement of claim for one of the lawsuits.
Statements of claim and statements of defence include allegations not yet tested in court.
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