Saskatoon real estate company collapse leaves millions unaccounted for, court documents reveal

A Saskatoon real estate company controlling hundreds of properties has ceased operations and left millions of dollars from dozens of investors unaccounted for.

That's according to court filings obtained by CTV News.

Epic Alliance Real Estate Inc., which according to its own promotional material, controlled 504 properties in Saskatoon and North Battleford – valued at $126 million total, shut down operations in January.

Saskatchewan's Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority (FCAA) issued a temporary cease-trade order in October.

The company's two co-founders, Rochelle Laflamme and Alisa Thompson, informed investors of the company’s demise in a 16-minute Zoom call on Jan. 19.

“We just couldn’t come back from the cease-trade order. The FCAA f***ed us, so that’s it," a transcription of the call said.

Attempts by CTV News to contact Laflamme and Thompson have been unsuccessful.

The shutdown left investors -- mainly from British Columbia and Ontario scrambling to find out what happened to their money.

Epic Alliance offered investors a "hassle-free" landlord program — managing homes for out-of-province investors.

 "It's a s--t sandwich and we know you guys are invested with us and we know we had a lot of people rallying around for the success," they said, informing investors they were now landlords for their properties.

Under the landlord program, the investor would take out the mortgage on the home and Epic would take the responsibility for everything else such as finding tenants and maintaining the property.

That program promised the investor a 15 per cent guaranteed rate of return.

At one point, the pair spoke of "trying to hand over" hundreds of properties as they attempted to get keys to all of the unsuspecting landlords.

"Unfortunately, anybody who had any unsecured debts... it's all gone. Everything is gone. There is no business left and that's what it is," the transcription said.

In the video, the pair said Epic Alliance would be claiming bankruptcy.

"Unfortunately, this is where we’re at. So, we had to pretty much lay everyone off last Friday and we are closing the doors," the transcription said.

The company also raised money through promissory notes — where investors would loan cash to be repaid with interest.

These notes included the loan amount, the beginning and end-term date, and the interest rate.

Epic asked for investments between $50,000 and $500,000 in exchange for the promissory notes

The firm also offered "fund-a-flip" program, where investors could buy homes through Epic — which would oversee improvements and upgrades — and then sell for a profit, often advertised as a 10 per cent return on a one-year investment.

"We tried. For us we're out of time. We are out of resources. There is nothing left," the pair said during their Zoom call with investors.

One-hundred-twenty investors have since successfully applied to have a special investigator appointed to try and learn what happened to their money.

Court of Queen's Bench Justice Allisen Rothery assigned accounting firm Ernst and Young to the investigation surrounding the estimated $10 million to $20 million in potential losses. Findings are to be revealed in court at the end of April.