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Genetic centre closes after founder arrestedSASKATOON — A genetic testing centre that opened with great fanfare two months ago closed suddenly last week, just hours after its founder was arrested by police for parole violations on a fraud conviction.For more than a year, Nicholas Bonamy, a fraud artist with a long list of convictions, regularly assured hisSaskatoon parole officer he was abiding by the terms of his release.But outside the parole office, Bonamy became Nicolas Grimaldi, a computer whiz and master geneticist who convinced the Saskatoon scientific community and local investors to create a fee-for-service genetic testing and disease research company.The Saskatoon GenoCentre opened Oct. 4 with Grimaldi as president. After his arrest last Thursday, the doors were locked on the Queen Street business and the staff fired.Grimaldi is now at SaskatchewanPenitentiary in Prince Albert. The commercial crime section of Saskatoonpolice is investigating a complaintagainst him.“It has come as a complete shock to everybody who has had any association with this company,” said Paul Grant, a lawyer for Saskatoon GenoCentre.“People are sort of reeling and trying to collect the facts and respond accordingly. This is all news to investors, directors, shareholders, employees.”Tim Krause of the Correctional Service of Canada said only that Bonamy was arrested after his parole officer concluded he “could no longer be safely supervised in the community.” National Parole Board documents reveal an astonishing deception involving a Romanian-born man who has used 13 known aliases since 1972 to bilk investors and institutions across Canada of more than $1 million.Nicholas Yvon Bonamy, 53, is wellknown at the Canadian University College in Lacombe, Alta. Over a nine-month span in the early 1990s, Bonamy stole $914,395 from the institution.College president Reo Ganson said Bonamy worked as a computer programmer under contract for the college.He was a pleasant sort of guy who got along well with people. Of course, anyone who is going to wiggle his wayinto that kind of scenario is going to be that kind of person,” Ganson said.Bonamy was convicted of theft and fraud on Feb. 15,1996, and sentenced to nine years in prison.Documents filed during his various parole applications flesh out his history with authorities.“Your criminal record began in 1972 and includes 39 fraud convictions, four theft, six failures to comply and possession of a forged passport,” said a prerelease report from 1999,— Canadian Press
Newspaper Details
Brandon Sun
Brandon, Manitoba, CA
Thu, Dec 06, 2001
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Bob H.
CA 09 Jul 2021
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