Kitchener - Arlan Galbraith, better known as the Pigeon King, told
Justice G. Hearn here Monday that he is going to be his own lawyer to face one charge of
fraud and four charges of violating the Bankruptcy Act .
His lawyer, Paul Williams, said there has been a breakdown
with Galbraith.
Galbraith has seldom come to Kitchener, leaving it to Williams to handle court appearances. On Monday Williams and Crown Attorney Lynn Robinson were prepared to tell Hearn how they intend to proceed with the case, including a preliminary hearing and trial.
Now that has been delayed three weeks to March 19 and Hearn
urged Galbraith to retain a lawyer because it’s likely to be a long and
difficult trial.
Galbraith answered that it would take too long to brief a
new lawyer in a case that involves more than 600,000 documents. He said he
intends to seek a preliminary hearing and a jury trial.
He is accused to luring more than 1,000 investors into
contracts worth more than $20 million to produce breeding stock. Officials in
Iowa put a stop to his sales there, describing it as a Ponzi scheme, meaning
investors could only earn profits on the contracts if Galbraith and his Pigeon
King International Inc. were able to find a steady stream of new investors so
their money could be used to pay previous investors.
Galbraith threw his company into bankruptcy on June, 2008, and the next year some investors who had signed contracts with Galbraith before he
set up the company petitioned him into personal bankruptcy.
