Andrij Olesiuk was found guilty of two charges relating to a fake GoFundMe account at Saskatoon's Provincial Court on Jan. 17, 2020. (650 CKOM)

By Harrison Brooks

Saskatoon man found guilty for fake Humboldt Broncos GoFundMe

Jan 17, 2020 | 11:28 AM

In 2018, Saskatoon’s Andrij Olesiuk created a GoFundMe account to raise money for the Humboldt Broncos after their tragic bus crash.

But the $3,600 he raised never made it to the team. Instead, it went to his personal bank account — and he spent the money.

In December, Olesiuk told a Saskatoon courtroom that, after closing down his account, he gave $4,100 in cash to a woman who came by his house collecting money for the Broncos. He also said he lost the receipt for that donation in a house fire.

On Friday at Saskatoon Provincial Court, Olesiuk was found guilty of fraud under $5,000 and possession of stolen property obtained by crime.

“It is an important case and it was an important one to prosecute in terms of taking advantage of a horrible tragedy, probably the worst tragedy in Saskatchewan’s history, to benefit yourself from those monies,” Crown Prosecutor Darren Howarth said outside court.

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“And of course Mr. Olesiuk’s statement, his story, is just unbelievable for a large number of reasons and in that respect I think it was the right decision.”

When asked about the more fantastical elements of Olesiuk’s story, Howarth noted how Olesiuk could remember specific details about the woman he gave the money to but not the organization she represented.

Howarth also mentioned how it didn’t make much sense for someone who seemingly had financial difficulties to have more than $4,000 in cash lying around.

“A lot of Mr. Olesiuk’s stories were just million-to-one unbelievable coincidences and you throw a bunch of those together and it really just becomes impossible to believe,” said Howarth.

“If you recall at the beginning of the cross-examination he agreed he considered himself to be a competent businessman, he runs several businesses and again I feel the judge was correct in coming to that conclusion (of guilt). If you are a competent businessman, you don’t make a decision like that. It’s incredible. It’s ridiculous.”

Howarth wants the case to be a message to people that “if you are going to raise money for GoFundMe and keep it for yourself, you can be criminally charged and you can be prosecuted.”

“At the end of the day, we should be able to trust people who are doing these things and raising this money,” Howarth said. “We’d like to trust people in society and we should be able to.”

Olesiuk’s sentencing is to take place at Saskatoon Provincial Court on March 3.