A hearing to consider whether one of Greg Martel’s investors was given a preferential payment has been adjourned until next year.
This week, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the trustee overseeing the former Victoria mortgage broker’s bankruptcy, and legal representatives of Laurel Rayani agreed to adjourn to a date after Jan. 30.
Pricewaterhouse had filed a suit claiming a payment of $2.36 million made by Martel’s company, My Mortgage Auction, through his legal representative to Rayani on March 8 was made preferentially while the company was insolvent.
Court records show Rayani had invested that amount with Martel in 2022 and 2023.
The trustee has demanded that the repayment of those funds be declared void and that Rayani return the money to the trustee to be pooled with whatever other Martel assets Pricewaterhouse can collect to distribute among creditors.
More than 860 investors have lodged claims with the receivership, saying Martel owes them $295 million. PricewaterhouseCoopers believes the total number of investors is likely in excess of 1,300.
Martel, whose whereabouts are unknown, has civil warrants out for his arrest in both Canada and the U.S.
The Canadian warrant was issued after Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick found Martel guilty of contempt, after he breached several court orders that required him to provide information and co-operate with the receiver overseeing his bankruptcy proceedings.
That Canadian warrant was amended this week to a Canada-wide warrant.
Since PricewaterhouseCoopers took control of Martel’s My Mortgage Auction Corp. in May, Martel has been unco-operative, refusing to answer questions about finances and business operations and to offer even the most basic information about the bridge-loan investment scheme most of his investors believed they were involved with.
Martel could face fines or jail if and when he returns to Canada or the U.S.
PricewaterhouseCoopers’ investigation, which has been extended until the end of February, has so far unearthed just over $300,000 in assets, while the costs accrued by the investigation so far are estimated at more than $1 million.
