When a Toronto fraudster tried to make off with nearly a whopping $850,000 in his deviously planned casino rip-off, no empathy was felt at all.
The Crown attorney insisted that Nicky Fortunato, who was found guilty last March of two counts of fraud and two counts of uttering forged documents which tallied to a total of $847,000 should receive and deserves a heft penitentiary sentence.
The court heard during the trial that Fortunato did all this at Casino Rama and Fallsview Casino in October 2012. It was found out that Fortunato used inside help from the Toronto Bank of Montreal employee, Farhan Bojani, a junior assistant who has since lost his job.
In Bojani’s testimony the terrified man claimed that three men had ordered him to provide them with blank bank drafts. He also claimed that he was forced into assisting the scam by manning the phones when the casino called.
Fortunato went to the casinos with the bank drafts that were blank whilst an unknown person texted Bojani before the casino called. From there on the casino called Bojani, confirmed that the bank drafts were legit. The money would then be deposited into Fortuna’s bank account.
“His story is incapable of belief,” said the judge.
The judge also said he was highly suspicious of the bank employee’s story.
Fortunato, who has been out on bail, also made a request for a bail variation to allow him to continue playing at the casinos, but he abandoned the application at the end of the day.
Outside of court, Fortunato ran to dodge reporters while his friend tried to block the cameras.
The judge will sentence Aug. 13.
