Alberta man sentenced to jail, fined nearly $800K for fraud and tax evasion

Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) national headquarters in Ottawa on Friday, June 28, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

The owner of a phony Alberta drone flight company has been sentenced to jail and fined almost $800,000 for defrauding the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) of several COVID-19 subsidies and not paying taxes.

Leslie Sand of Brooks, Alta., was sentenced on June 10 in Medicine Hat to three-and-a-half years in jail and fined $798,709.02, the CRA said Thursday.

Sand was the sole shareholder and signing authority of Flyte Deck Corporation, a drone flight operations and 3D printing business.

The CRA said Flyte Deck was not a legitimate company and never had any business income.

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Despite this, officials said Sand applied for multiple subsidies between April 2020 and August 2022 such as the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy, the Hardest Hit Business Recovery Program, the Tourism and Hospitality Recovery Program and the Canada Recovery Hiring Program.

“As part of the applications, Sand created and submitted false business records, false commercial lease agreements, false payroll records, false bank documents and false lists of employees,” the CRA said.

From this, Sand appropriated $603,376.44 from the company and failed to report that taxable income.

The CRA says Sand was arrested by RCMP as part of a joint investigation by both authorities.

“Wilfully choosing not to follow Canada’s tax laws can result in serious consequences,” the CRA said.

“Under the income tax and excise tax laws, being convicted of tax evasion can include court-imposed fines ranging from 50 per cent to 200 per cent of the evaded tax and up to five years in jail. Being convicted of tax fraud under Section 380 of the Criminal Code carries a sentence of up to 14 years in jail.”

In addition to the above fines and jail time, Sand is expected to pay the full amount of tax owed to the CRA, interest accrued and any penalties.