An Orillia-area financial advisor, who defrauded 25 people out of nearly $2 million over several years, heard from his victims in a Barrie courtroom. Kevin Douse, 41, showed little emotion as those he victimized described how Douse’s actions broke their trust and devastated their financial futures. The Crown wants Douse, who pleaded guilty in September 2025 to defrauding clients out of more than $1.8 million between 2016 and 2023 when he worked as a financial advisor in Orillia, to be sentenced to five and a half years in prison. The Crown told the court Douse “repeatedly lied to his victims” and was “motivated by greed for his own personal benefit.” Douse, the court heard, defrauded clients who trusted him to invest their life and retirement savings between 2016 and 2023. Many of his clients were longtime close friends and family members. The Crown said Douse forged signatures and deposited fraudulent cheques into his own bank account and used the money for himself, leaving many clients in financial ruin. The prosecution is asking the court to order that Douse repay $1.3 million in unrecovered funds or face more time in prison. Fighting back tears, victims described having their trust broken and financial security devastated by someone they thought was looking out for their best interest. One woman told the court Douse was “the complete opposite of the person he portrayed himself to be.” One man explained to the court that his personal relationship to Douse made him especially vulnerable. “We were easy prey,” said the man while delivering his victim impact statement to Justice Craig Brannagan. “He repeatedly betrayed people’s trust for many years,” said the man of Douse’s scheme. “He stole our security, he stole our retirement, and ultimately he stole time from us. We want our money back.” The man also called for greater accountability and better safeguards from financial institutions and regulators to prevent others from being defrauded the way he and dozens of other cheated investors were. One couple referred to Douse as their “life coach” and closest friend. The couple said when Douse was charged in April 2025, they “assumed he was framed,” and “No one believed Kevin was capable of this in this life or the next.” Another person called Douse’s deception a “deep betrayal of trust,” saying Douse exploited them in a “callous and calculated way.” In trying to explain and provide ‘context’ for his actions Douse said he worked for so many years in a “very unhealthy work environment” and that trepidation and isolation built up and decimated his mental state and decision-making. Douse said he then “shrank under guilt and fear” until his judgement was “seriously compromised.” Douse had last worked as a financial advisor for the now-defunct WLTH Inc. in downtown Orillia and, in January, following a hearing in late 2025, was fined more than $500,000 by the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) and permanently banned by the regulatory body for the misappropriation of funds and failing to cooperate with the organization’s investigators. “I am not blaming anyone else for what I did. My actions were what physically took your money.” Douse vowed to make full restitution to his clients and told the court he has “tremendous remorse and debilitating shame” for what he did as he continues to seek psychiatric help. His lawyer Gary Pickard asked Douse receive a sentence of four years in prison. Douse is scheduled to be sentenced by Justice Brannagan in late February.
