Shire International Real Estate Investments Alleged to Be Fraud

Calgary’s already battered real estate investment market has been taking another beating this summer. A real estate investment firm known as Shire International Real Estate Investments Inc., operating along the lines of a “real estate trust” has been in the news all summer, and has been suggested to be a pyramid scheme.

Essentially a group of investors are suing Shire International Real Estate Investments Inc. through two “representative plaintiffs” for 75 million (the amount the Company raised from investors through offering “shares” or “units” in various property projects). The investors allege that none of the ten projects have in fact moved forward in the manner they were represented to.

One of the representative plaintiffs, an investor known as Jennifer Lofgren, has been particularly charismatic in presenting this story through a blog, and the blog can be found at http://shireinvestor.blogspot.com/.

A statement of claim was filed in Queen’s Bench on July 6th, 2009. A copy of the statement of claim is available on the shire investor blog entry from July 7th, 2009.

The most recent development apparently has been an order which has been granted to Shire and the others in the law suit through the Company Creditors Arrangement Act. Essentially Ernst and Young are now examining the affairs of the company.

In closing, once again real estate investing in Calgary continues to be the subject of alleged planned fraud. Many people, including Rainbow Investigations, feel real estate fraud is clearly the number one consumer problem in Calgary right now.

Some people have felt that real estate is a relatively “safe” investment – to whose people, welcome to Calgary in 2009!

Date of Story: Monday, August 24, 2009
Story Posted By: Ron Reinhold
Source: Ron Reinhold

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