A man accused in a $10-million Ponzi-style fraud scheme wants a jury trial.
Defence lawyer Will Willms appeared in Red Deer provincial court on Friday representing Joshua James Tenhove, who has been charged with three counts of fraud over $5,000 and one count each of laundering the proceeds of crime and possession of property over $5,000 obtained by crime.
Willms requested a preliminary inquiry, which is expected to take five days. Preliminary inquiries are held to determine if there is enough evidence to send the case to trial.
The date set was not available on Friday. A June 22 court date was set to confirm the preliminary inquiry.
A special prosecutor has been appointed to handle the case.
Tenhove was charged last Dec. 19 after a 20-month RCMP investigation led to a search of a home on C&E Trail, north of Red Deer.
The alleged scheme involved the purchase, sale and rental of mobile light tower by Silvertip Energy Inc.
RCMP allege the owner of Silvertip Energy sold or rented light towers with the same serial number to multiple investors and sold or rented units that were never manufactured.
Police said the alleged Ponzi scheme involved reselling the same items to numerous investors and disguising new money coming in as dividends to early buyers.
Five individual investors lost about $4 million and at least four companies in Canada and the U.S. lost $6.2 million, allege police.