In the more than three months since it began, the Daniel P. Reeve fraud trial has heard from plenty of witnesses who claim they saw minimal or no returns on investments they made with the financier.
Friday’s testimony was a story of somebody who got most of their money back – just not in the way they might have expected when they first gave it to Reeve.
James Reinhardt spent the day on the witness stand.
His daughter had received a $2-million settlement stemming from a car crash that left her with life-altering injuries.
In 2008, the two of them met with Daniel P. Reeve and his brother David to discuss investment opportunities.
Court heard that Daniel suggested they put $500,000 into the Breadalbane Inn in Fergus, which he claimed he hoped to turn into a high-end resort.
“He said he owned it,” Reinhardt testified.
Reeve’s idea was repeatedly shot down.
Eventually, Reinhardt said, he came back and recommended investment in a different property, near the Jakobstettle Inn in St. Jacobs.
“He suggested … that property was to be torn down, and a new spa would open on a high-end basis,” Reinhardt said.
On the advice of a lawyer, some of the money was held back until construction was further along, and a lien was taken out on Reeve’s farmhouse in Elora.
Between the lien and the fact that Reinhardt’s daughter’s name was on the paperwork for the St. Jacobs property, Reinhardt said, his daughter was able to get most of her investment back.
Reeve became the subject of police scrutiny in 2009.
He was arrested three years later, and has pleaded not guilty to accusations that he defrauded 41 people out of $10 million.
