Pigeon King gets seven years in the pen
Posted Mar 19, 2014 06:54:59 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The man called the Pigeon King will spend the next seven years behind bars.
That was the sentence a judge handed down on Tuesday in the case of Arlan Galbraith.
He lured hundreds of farmers both Canadian and American, with a promise of huge profits in raising pigeons.
He would sell some farmers a pair of birds for up to $500 and promised to buy them back at prices that would guarantee a big return.
Investors were told the pigeons were for sport and meat.
The prosecution said Pigeon King International, with offices in a Waterloo commercial plaza, was nothing more then a pyramid scheme, that needed new investors to pay existing ones.
The company went bankrupt in 2008 as Galbraith’s buyback deals had ballooned to more than $350 million and investors lost an estimated $20 million.
According to The Record, the judge cited Galbraith’s refusal of wrong doing as one of several aggravating factors.
The 67 year old represented himself in court until the sentencing.
Galbraith maintained he is the victim of an Internet smear campaign .
The seven year prison term takes into account time served.
