OTTAWA/IROQUOIS – A South Dundas man connected with a local property development company faces eight charges relating to fraud allegations made in Toronto and the United States.
The Ottawa Police Service, working with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Ontario Provincial Police, charged 73 year old Edouard Bonamie December 6 after a major fraud investigation.
OPS alleged that a couple living in the US in 2017 purchased a yacht from a man and after signing the sales contract and paying a deposit, never received the vessel.
Then in 2020, a Toronto man contacted a yacht broker about buying a vessel advertised online. After a sea trial, signing a sales contract, and paying for the vessel, the complainant never received the boat and it was never legally sold to the buyer.
Police say that the value of the losses total over $1 million.
Bonamie was charged with two counts of Fraud over $5,000, two counts of uttering forged documents, two counts of laundering Canadian proceeds of crime, and two counts of possession of stolen property.
OPS say they believe there may be other victims and say that Bonamie also used the alias of “Nicholas Bomamy.” Police say he operates a company named the South Dundas Waterfront Development Corporation. Anyone with information about this incident or who may have been a victim of fraud by Bonamie is asked to contact Acting Staff Sergeant Steven Desjourdy of the OPS Organized Fraud Unit at 613-236-1222 (extension 5460).
Bonamie was scheduled to appear in court December 7.
Nicholas Bomamy is linked to the South Dundas Waterfront Development Corporation which has applied to subdivide a property on Lakeshore Drive in South Dundas, and built a residential model home on County Road 2 near Iroquois.
Bonamie, who also used the aliases Nicholas Bonamy, Nicholas Grimaldi, and Nicholas Ives, plead guilty in 2006 to charges of fraud in Saskatchewan relating to a genomics company.
This article was originally written for, and appeared in, The Morrisburg Leader.
