Dr. Harold Bergman, 88, says the theft of his life savings by a lawyer has left him penniless and homeless and reliant on friends and family.
The retired dentist delivered a fiery victim impact statement in Vancouver Provincial Court Oct. 1, telling Judge Donna Senniw that Steven Neil Mansfield, 59, offered him an investment opportunity in a cannabis company for $400,000.
Mansfield has pleaded guilty to four counts of theft over $5,000. He had also been charged with four counts of fraud over $5,000. Mansfield pleaded guilty to the four thefts Sept. 11.
His licence to practise law was revoked in January 2017 for nonpayment of Law Society of B.C. (LSBC) professional fees.
Prosecutor Andrew McLean told Senniw that Bergman gave Mansfield $350,000 while his friend Sandra Malone contributed $5,000. Bergman met Mansfield in March 2017.
They were later told the money was never invested, but instead went to pay gambling debts.
“I am homeless. I have lost my self-esteem and confidence,” Bergman told the court as Mansfield looked on. “You have stolen my sense of honour. I feel a great surge of rage toward you.”
Bergman said he had achieved a level of international prominence in dentistry, that he had a patent on a type of dental implants.
“My future looked golden ... but life took a dark turn,” he said, adding that being introduced to Mansfield, “changed my life forever.”
“I invested $350,000 in your scam,” he said.
'Penniless, virtually homeless life'
Bergman said he thought he had made a good investment, one that would be worth $2.5 million today.
He said the elation lasted until Mansfield said he’d used the money to pay debts.
“I was devastated,” Bergman said. “He has imprisoned me with a penniless, virtually homeless life.”
Malone wept as she gave her statement to the court.
She called meeting Mansfield in 2007 “the worst day of my life.”
“He was an exemplary lawyer and came highly recommended,” Malone said. “He purposely stole $5,000 from me."
She said she and Bergman were strung along for two years.
“You stole from me and you stole my friend’s life savings,” she said. “I think you’re pathetic and your actions toward me are unforgivable.”
She said she was horrified when he said he had used the money to pay his debts.
Moreover, she said, Mansfield was not even licensed as a lawyer at the time, meaning there was no way she or Bergman could seek repayment from the LSBC’s indemnity fund.
Real estate and family cases
Bergman and Malone were not Mansfield’s only victims.
McLean said the lawyer had acted for Yan Zhang in a family matter in 2016. Mansfield requested $200,000 to be held in his trust account. He later admitted he had used the money to pay gambling debts.
Zhang only found out what was happening when he couldn’t contact Mansfield and went to his office. There, Zhang found officials of the law society and was informed Mansfield was no longer a lawyer.
And, McLean said, Mansfield had acted for Cynthia Pellegrin in selling her house in 2016.
Despite his lawyer registration having been cancelled, Mansfield got $1,114,876 million from the buyer in January 2017.
“Ms. Pellegrin instructed Mr. Mansfield to discharge the mortgages,” McLean said.
McLean said Pellegrin got a cheque for $186,000 while the rest was to be retained in Mansfield’s trust account for future purchases.
Mansfield then paid out $114,162 to redeem a second mortgage.
Gambling debts
A further cheque to RBC, a bank, of $489,406 did not clear through his bank.
"He used the trust fund money to pay off his gambling debts,” McLean said.
Pellegrin only found out about the situation when she discovered she was still paying interest on the mortgage, McLean said.
The Crown lawyer said Mansfield took a total of $817,714 from the sale proceeds from his trust account. Pellegrin was compensated from the law society fund.
Mansfield later apologized.
McLean said the case is one of breach of trust, saying defence lawyer Peter Leask, a former B.C. Supreme Court justice, would be seeking a conditional sentence.
McLean said other conditions of sentence should be that Mansfield repay the LSBC $1 million, $350,000 to Bergman and $50,000 to Malone.
Gambling addiction
The court heard Mansfield once lost $60,000 gambling on one weekend alone.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Tyler Oswald testified as part of the sentencing hearing, saying Mansfield had received gambling addiction help on an outpatient basis from a rehab centre.
Leask asked Oswald is Mansfield was at risk of relapsing.
“Yes,” Oswald said. “I can’t predict whether Mr. Mansfield will be able to move into social gambling."
Oswald suggested Mansfield should abstain from gambling completely.
McLean said there was a “substantial amount of psychiatric and psychological evidence that has a bearing on the case.”
Twice disbarred
The LSBC has twice disbarred Mansfield, who practised law in the Lower Mainland for 23 years.
“In the final years of his practice, he misappropriated large sums of trust funds from several clients in order to settle gambling debts,” a May 2019 society disbarment decision said.
The decision said Mansfield could not pay from his personal resources and began withdrawing money from his trust accounts in order to meet the debts arising from his gambling losses.
“Given the severity of the misconduct in this case, the disbarment of the respondent is necessary,” the 2019 decision said. “The respondent has demonstrated an egregious failure to respect his duties and obligations to his clients.”
The prior decision was in July 2018. "[Mansfield] explained that his actions in intentionally misappropriating over $400,000 from two clients resulted from a gambling addiction," that decision said.
