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Former pigeon breeder says family friend talked him into it

Thursday, November 14, 2013

by DAVE PINK

A Walkerton area man says he ignored the pleas of his wife and the advice of his banker when he agreed to do business with Arlan Galbraith and Pigeon King International.

“I am naive and I am gullible,” Dale Leifso said during testimony against Galbraith in Kitchener Superior Court on Thursday.

Galbraith, who has chosen not to hire a lawyer and is representing himself in court, is charged with defrauding investors in his Pigeon King business of millions of dollars. He’s also facing four charges under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

Leifso said that late in 2007 he was talked into buying 250 pair of breeding pigeons for $132,500 by family friend and Pigeon King sales agent Shelley Mason. He was promised that Pigeon King, a company wholly owned by Galbraith, would buy back the offspring at $50 per bird over the next 10 years.

Pigeon King went bankrupt in June 2008, just as Leifso was preparing to sell back that second generation  of pigeons. Leifso lost his initial investment, along with the money he had paid to construct the buildings to house the birds.

“At the end of the day we were out about $300,000,” he said. It was money he had borrowed from the TD Bank in Orangeville, secured against his farm property. Leifso said the loan was paid down only after his wife sold the house she owned.

“It was most definitely a strain on the relationship,” he said. “Jocelyn was leery of this from Day One. She never did trust Arlan.”

Leifso said he was assured by both Galbraith and Mason late in 2007 that the market for pigeons was secure and that the business was solid, even though he had been cautioned about Pigeon King. Leifso said he was advised to call up a website called Crimebusters, which warned against Pigeon King – and when he raised that issue with Galbraith: “He was upset. You could tell he was agitated. He said I would be smart not to listen to anything they had to say.”

When challenged by Galbraith during cross-examination, and asked if he understood that all business has an element of risk and no guarantee of profit, Leifso said:  “You were a good salesman. You and Shelley Mason convinced me there was no risk.”

He added: “I was guaranteed a price. There was a reasonable assumption I would make a profit if you honoured the wording in the contract.”

Leifso, who sells farm buildings, told the court he was used to dealing with honest and straightforward farmers, and didn’t think to question Galbraith’s sales pitch.

And, as Galbraith continued to push for answers to his questions relating to general business practices, Leifso responded: “Why do you continue to ask these hypothetical questions. I’ve got a thousand things to do, and I’m sitting here in this courtroom answering these stupid questions.”

As for the bankruptcy of Pigeon King, “If I had to lay blame on one person it would be you,” Leifso told Galbraith.

Court also heard testimony from Woodstock area farmer Walter Kropf, who bought 550 breeding pairs in 2007 and ended up about $170,000 “in the hole.”

As well, Simcoe area farmer Anita Dewaele said she believed that pigeons would be the ideal complement to her tobacco growing business and agreed to buy 200 pair of birds from Pigeon King in September 2007. Dewaele said she was paid for the birds she delivered in May of 2008, but not for the birds she delivered in June. In all, after renovations to her farm buildings, Dewaele testified she was “out $154,000.”

Each of the three investors said they tried to find another market for the birds after the Pigeon King bankruptcy, but there was none. All of the birds were destroyed.

The trial resumes Monday before Justice G. E. Taylor. It is expected to last another four to six weeks. BF

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