Julius Melnitzer

Julius Melnitzer is a freelance legal writer and former lawyer. In 1992, he pled guilty to 42 counts of fraud in relation to defrauding five Canadian banks out of $67 million. He was sentenced to 9 years in jail.^[1] It was the largest personal loan fraud in Canadian history.^[2]

Crime and punishment

Melnitzer was a successful and high profile lawyer in London, Ontario,^[3] when he began a scheme to print fake stock certificates to be used as collateral to get loans from major Canadian banks. He was caught when an officer at National Bank of Canada became suspicious and asked for an inspection of the certificates. Melnitzer was arrested three days later. He was later disbarred, and at his sentencing the judge read a "scathing" indictment on his actions.^[4] Melnitzer was given day parole two years later, and then full parole in 1995.^[1]

Melnitzer's partner at the time of the fraud, Fletcher Dawson, later became a judge of of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.^[3] Future London MPP Christopher Bentley was an articling student at Melnitzer's firm.^[3]

References