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$2.2 Million Lottery Win: How Lana McKenzie's Life Changed Forever
Discover how Lana McKenzie's $2.2 million lottery win changed her life forever. In this inspiring interview, hosted by Powerball winner Timothy Schultz on the Lottery, Dreams, and Fortune podcast, Lana shares the emotional highs and challenges of sudden wealth, her experience on My Lottery Dream Home, and her personal journey. Tune in to hear her advice for lottery winners and what comes after a life-changing jackpot win!
🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST:
Meet your host, Timothy Schultz – a Powerball winner turned journalist! With Bullhead Entertainment, LLC, he's bringing you tales of triumph, with a focus on our mindset and the belief that anything is possible.
If you have a story that you want considered for this podcast, email us today! Email Timothy Schultz's team at Contact@Timothy-Schultz.com.
Mentioned in this episode:
Youtube: LOTTERY, DREAMS AND FORTUNE Podcast
Special Announcement from Timothy Schultz
This is a short announcement from Timothy Schultz about how you can watch this interview on Youtube!
Youtube: LOTTERY, DREAMS AND FORTUNE Podcast
Transcript
Welcome to lottery, Dreams and
Speaker:Fortune. My name is Timothy Schultz.
Speaker:This is an interview with Lana
Speaker:Mckenzie.
Speaker:Now, if you want to watch this
Speaker:interview, we will put a link to the
Speaker:YouTube page in the show notes.
Speaker:Without further ado, let's get to
Speaker:the interview. So I am so excited
Speaker:to be joined here by Lana Mckenzie.
Speaker:Her story is inspiring,
Speaker:very, very inspiring.
Speaker:And she actually is many things,
Speaker:but also a lottery winner.
Speaker:She actually won a jackpot
Speaker:of $2.2 million
Speaker:from the B.C.
Speaker:Children's Hospital
Speaker:Lottery.
Speaker:Her story is very heartwarming.
Speaker:She was one of the first
Speaker:people that I interviewed on
Speaker:this channel.
Speaker:So we met once
Speaker:before. But a lot has
Speaker:happened. And so we're going to
Speaker:get caught up with her and learn
Speaker:more about her story. Lana, how are
Speaker:you doing today?
Speaker:I'm great.
Speaker:It's so great to see you again.
Speaker:I was looking back and I can't
Speaker:believe it's been, like, over five
Speaker:years since we last talked.
Speaker:When was this?
Speaker:When did this happen that you won
Speaker:this $2.2 million prize
Speaker:from the Children's Hospital
Speaker:lottery?
Speaker:That was it in 2017.
Speaker:So May of 2017.
Speaker:My son had been a patient at the
Speaker:hospital, the B.C.
Speaker:Children's Hospital, and then
Speaker:we just wanted to support any way we
Speaker:could. And so we bought the
Speaker:the fundraiser lottery tickets.
Speaker:They do two fundraisers a year with
Speaker:them.
Speaker:To win a prize, you can get
Speaker:a choice of a house or just take a
Speaker:cash prize. And so we decided on the
Speaker:cash prize.
Speaker:Yeah, it was completely life
Speaker:changing and in so
Speaker:many good ways.
Speaker:It's like just surreal
Speaker:when it all happens.
Speaker:And then you kind of
Speaker:now have to navigate through like,
Speaker:what do we do now?
Speaker:How does this how does
Speaker:our lifestyle look like right now?
Speaker:And you want wanted to improve, you
Speaker:know, the way.
Speaker:Yeah. It's it's I think
Speaker:the biggest challenge is
Speaker:been to
Speaker:kind of like set yourself
Speaker:up for the future so that
Speaker:it's not like
Speaker:this big.
Speaker:And then you just kind of sad.
Speaker:Said and then it's like.
Speaker:You you don't want to be a broke
Speaker:lottery winner.
Speaker:Yeah. So you the
Speaker:at first you kind of make like rash,
Speaker:you know, quick decisions.
Speaker:But it's so much better when you
Speaker:actually can make
Speaker:decisions that are like
Speaker:thinking about the long term and,
Speaker:and things like that.
Speaker:So yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, that sounds very wise.
Speaker:And there's that stigma out there
Speaker:of lottery winners
Speaker:going through money.
Speaker:There's the stigma in our culture,
Speaker:but I don't know how much of that
Speaker:is true or not true, but it's
Speaker:certainly.
Speaker:Yeah, it's the way the media
Speaker:portrays it. But like that, that
Speaker:guy that just won like the biggest
Speaker:Powerball ever and like
Speaker:he's buying all these houses.
Speaker:And in my mind, I'm like, that's
Speaker:good. But like, you have to have
Speaker:enough to maintain those houses.
Speaker:You have to have enough income
Speaker:coming in from your investments
Speaker:that if you don't have enough
Speaker:to maintain what you've bought, like
Speaker:it's, you know, buying these huge
Speaker:properties. Like there's people
Speaker:that you have to hire to do
Speaker:all this work or taxes you have
Speaker:to pay And like, yeah,
Speaker:it's interesting seeing, you
Speaker:know, how the media reports
Speaker:it or like what information
Speaker:you see about other lottery winners.
Speaker:I loved your video with the guy
Speaker:who won the
Speaker:$10 million scratcher.
Speaker:And then yeah Bradley.
Speaker:Hired me.
Speaker:Yeah. And then he ended up with like
Speaker:3 million, which is like how it
Speaker:works in the States or whatever.
Speaker:But I was like so inspired
Speaker:by how they were so
Speaker:good with their investments
Speaker:and living off the money
Speaker:from the investments.
Speaker:I thought that was like so
Speaker:smart and inspiring.
Speaker:And it was like, I
Speaker:wished I'd made different decisions
Speaker:along the way where after I'd
Speaker:seen that video and
Speaker:how it was, they
Speaker:were so smart
Speaker:with the decisions they made.
Speaker:And in it's kind of like
Speaker:if you kind of stop and think about
Speaker:the long term.
Speaker:Is is much more
Speaker:beneficial than like this short term
Speaker:like stuff
Speaker:material. You know, it's
Speaker:it's it's it's hard to
Speaker:have the mindset because it's such a
Speaker:big you know, it's such a big thing
Speaker:and.
Speaker:Yeah. And and you won
Speaker:this 2.2
Speaker:million now in Canada
Speaker:a lot of prizes if you win lotto max
Speaker:or one of the major prizes and
Speaker:I assume this as well tax
Speaker:free it's.
Speaker:All tax free.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So that's our government
Speaker:has sort of set it up.
Speaker:So it's it's like a gift.
Speaker:You're giving a gift because all
Speaker:the people that have bought the
Speaker:tickets have paid income tax on
Speaker:the money. You know this.
Speaker:And so it's like all this taxation
Speaker:that would happen.
Speaker:So luckily our government has
Speaker:kept it as a tax free investment.
Speaker:And then but any of your income
Speaker:that like once you invest the money,
Speaker:any income that's taxable income.
Speaker:So then you want to, you
Speaker:know, do things that are going to
Speaker:leverage. And, you
Speaker:know, there was some strategies that
Speaker:we thought about, but
Speaker:not everything works out okay.
Speaker:I think it's quite.
Speaker:Well I definitely want to ask
Speaker:your thoughts on that but
Speaker:before I get to that, I
Speaker:read that you purchased three
Speaker:tickets for a total of $100.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:and a little bit of back story.
Speaker:Your son you mentioned was in the
Speaker:hospital.
Speaker:What why was he in the hospital
Speaker:For people that aren't yet familiar
Speaker:with your story?
Speaker:And yeah, he
Speaker:when I was pregnant, it was detected
Speaker:that he had an enlarged kidney.
Speaker:So they monitored it while I was
Speaker:pregnant. And then once
Speaker:he was born, then
Speaker:he had the ultrasounds
Speaker:right away to see what it was
Speaker:and it was not functioning
Speaker:properly.
Speaker:So it was decided that
Speaker:he the best course
Speaker:would be to have surgery.
Speaker:So at eight months old, he had
Speaker:kidney surgery
Speaker:and that was a
Speaker:crazy experience to hand your baby
Speaker:over to the doctor and
Speaker:hope that it all goes well.
Speaker:And but it did.
Speaker:It was amazing care.
Speaker:Amazing. Doctors like the surgery
Speaker:that they're doing is this
Speaker:microsurgery.
Speaker:It's so tiny on,
Speaker:you know, just a eight month old
Speaker:little baby. And it was
Speaker:the care the nurses, the
Speaker:the we stayed there for three days
Speaker:and he quickly was
Speaker:getting better, you know, right
Speaker:away. And then
Speaker:the day that we it
Speaker:was, I think two years later
Speaker:that we won because
Speaker:the lottery
Speaker:from that and the same day
Speaker:we got the like all clear that every
Speaker:surgery was successful and
Speaker:it was like his kidney was better
Speaker:than before. So we got to hold
Speaker:the check and then we got the great
Speaker:news.
Speaker:So the same day.
Speaker:My gosh.
Speaker:And what did that feel like?
Speaker:It was, like, incredible.
Speaker:It was so good.
Speaker:And like the day
Speaker:you get the news, it's like
Speaker:you actually do the check picture
Speaker:like about a week later.
Speaker:So like, I knew these because we
Speaker:have to go over to Vancouver.
Speaker:We actually live on being Cooper
Speaker:Island, so we are
Speaker:it's about a like six hour
Speaker:day trip to get to Vancouver.
Speaker:So we kind of had to plan it out of
Speaker:like going.
Speaker:And I knew we were going to have
Speaker:this appointment with the doctor.
Speaker:So we like coordinate it all in the
Speaker:same day of doing this check
Speaker:presentation and doing
Speaker:the appointment with the doctor.
Speaker:And then we actually had a
Speaker:painting that we had
Speaker:from when we moved over to the
Speaker:island, we had a goodbye present.
Speaker:It was a painting of our family, so
Speaker:I had a copy of it made and I gave
Speaker:that to ABC Children's as a thank
Speaker:you gift.
Speaker:So it was really like a really
Speaker:nice experience.
Speaker:It was amazing to like,
Speaker:take this check with this 2 million,
Speaker:you know, $2.2 million and,
Speaker:and that that our son was
Speaker:going to be just fine.
Speaker:And, you know, it's just
Speaker:it's like so great.
Speaker:That is amazing.
Speaker:And I read that you had $33
Speaker:in your bank account prior to that.
Speaker:Is that true?
Speaker:Yeah, maybe.
Speaker:I think that we might have been.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:My. My husband was making us
Speaker:money.
Speaker:So what did you do right after you
Speaker:got this money?
Speaker:We we had recently moved over
Speaker:to Vancouver Island, and we were
Speaker:staying at, like, my grandparents
Speaker:cottage. And then
Speaker:we were, we were going to actually
Speaker:be buying a place because
Speaker:we were moving over here.
Speaker:We just hadn't really kind of
Speaker:decided. So it was
Speaker:kind of an opportunistic move.
Speaker:And then I contacted
Speaker:the TV and
Speaker:I got to audition.
Speaker:They accepted our story
Speaker:and then did the filming and
Speaker:David brought. Said found our house.
Speaker:That's right. Because you were on my
Speaker:lottery dream home.
Speaker:My Lottery Dream Home.
Speaker:Yeah, we were on the lottery dream show.
Speaker:Yeah, it was.
Speaker:That was, like, so much
Speaker:fun. I loved feeling
Speaker:that it was so much
Speaker:fun to do.
Speaker:It was so much like
Speaker:the film crew that they had were
Speaker:just so tight and they were just
Speaker:such a great group of people and
Speaker:it was like so fun.
Speaker:I loved it.
Speaker:And like we ended
Speaker:up picking, you know, the house
Speaker:and we actually were still
Speaker:in the house. We we love it.
Speaker:It's like out of everything
Speaker:that's happened and everything
Speaker:that we've bought or
Speaker:things, whatever we've done,
Speaker:it's been so great
Speaker:to like have this rock
Speaker:of like, you know, your, your
Speaker:home. It's like it's so important
Speaker:to have your home base
Speaker:in your home, like
Speaker:through Covid.
Speaker:It was so amazing
Speaker:that we had this, like, beautiful
Speaker:house to joy to have the space.
Speaker:We we ended up putting a pool
Speaker:in the backyard.
Speaker:We extended the patio,
Speaker:made it bigger, put a gazebo.
Speaker:It's a mess right now because the
Speaker:kids are also in summer.
Speaker:So I have my nice banana
Speaker:leaf background.
Speaker:Yeah, it looks like you're in a
Speaker:jungle or something.
Speaker:You have all these leaves behind
Speaker:you. What is that?
Speaker:At the Beverly Hills Hotel?
Speaker:Virtually, This
Speaker:is the iconic banana leaf
Speaker:wallpaper that they have that was
Speaker:put in specifically at the Beverly
Speaker:Hills Hotel.
Speaker:It made an appearance on the Golden
Speaker:Girls as well.
Speaker:But his bedroom was like this.
Speaker:So it's one of my favorite
Speaker:backgrounds. So I thought
Speaker:it was a little bit of fun
Speaker:to do that.
Speaker:I don't know if the housing market
Speaker:like where you are has like
Speaker:increased so much, but
Speaker:we our house is actually doubled in
Speaker:value for what we
Speaker:we borrowed 700,000.
Speaker:It's now 41.4 million.
Speaker:And like, so just
Speaker:having like when we paid
Speaker:cash, we didn't get a mortgage.
Speaker:We and it's been
Speaker:like just the best decision
Speaker:and like the best part of the
Speaker:whole situation.
Speaker:It's like a great location.
Speaker:The kids can walk to school, the
Speaker:high schools, the hockey rings.
Speaker:My husband was.
Speaker:Like.
Speaker:I had to talk him into.
Speaker:Doing the show.
Speaker:The H, the
Speaker:My Lottery Dream Home, you had to talk
Speaker:him into it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:What was his hesitation?
Speaker:He's he he doesn't
Speaker:love cameras and doing
Speaker:like being the center focus
Speaker:you know he's such a great
Speaker:guy so friendly but he likes
Speaker:more one on one where I'm
Speaker:more like.
Speaker:Tell everybody
Speaker:what was the attention like when
Speaker:you and then a few
Speaker:national television shows.
Speaker:But I mean that's beyond national
Speaker:that's.
Speaker:We were actually the first Canadians
Speaker:so when I approached the
Speaker:show they
Speaker:had never come to Canada before.
Speaker:The show was in
Speaker:its fourth season
Speaker:when ours was season four,
Speaker:Episode 11.
Speaker:So when we
Speaker:joined the show
Speaker:had popularity, it was like
Speaker:number two on the
Speaker:for HGTV.
Speaker:Their network Fixer, upper
Speaker:Fixer Upper was like the show
Speaker:that everyone loved right then.
Speaker:And so my lottery dream house
Speaker:was like slowly making
Speaker:its waves. But it hadn't quite,
Speaker:you know, people were enjoying
Speaker:it. But now I think it's
Speaker:during Covid, it became one of their
Speaker:number one shows and
Speaker:it really took off because people
Speaker:like that story of like, what could
Speaker:I what could happen if I won the
Speaker:lottery? You know, it's such a feel
Speaker:good story that they show.
Speaker:I love the way they edited and the
Speaker:way that they show the like
Speaker:everybody looking for the dream is
Speaker:such a great concept.
Speaker:And it's like to be part
Speaker:of that show is so neat.
Speaker:Yeah. What a unique
Speaker:and fun opportunity.
Speaker:There's a lot of really inspiring
Speaker:stories on there.
Speaker:And they did a follow up with you
Speaker:Was that in 2020 or.
Speaker:Yeah, during Covid like?
Speaker:So I actually after we
Speaker:did that and then it
Speaker:was like I was looking for other
Speaker:investments.
Speaker:And so I was looking at doing
Speaker:like some more real estate
Speaker:purchases
Speaker:and I contacted them about
Speaker:doing more of like a condo in
Speaker:Victoria. And so they actually,
Speaker:because I look back with the show
Speaker:and the director and the casting,
Speaker:they said, Well, yeah, like
Speaker:would you be interested to audition?
Speaker:And we'll talk about, you know,
Speaker:going and having you buy another
Speaker:condo, because I wanted one in
Speaker:Victoria, which is about three hours
Speaker:south of here.
Speaker:I did the audition and they accepted
Speaker:me again. So
Speaker:I but then because of Covid,
Speaker:they never came rent
Speaker:or they said they couldn't get
Speaker:the production crew through the
Speaker:border because the Australian
Speaker:government had shut down the border
Speaker:and they couldn't get any crews
Speaker:through. And because that didn't
Speaker:work out, we sort of did like catch
Speaker:up, like, you know, what's everybody
Speaker:doing kind of thing.
Speaker:And I don't know if it I try
Speaker:to find it. And they took those
Speaker:shows off because I
Speaker:think be like
Speaker:they like it to be like happy
Speaker:stories and like seeing
Speaker:people filming during Covid is kind
Speaker:of like, right.
Speaker:You know? So they might have taken
Speaker:some of that shows off their network
Speaker:streaming and stuff like that.
Speaker:But it was great.
Speaker:It was a one hour episode and I had
Speaker:about five minutes of airtime and I
Speaker:just talked about, you know, what
Speaker:we've been doing.
Speaker:And and then I sort of led into
Speaker:like, I'm thinking about buying a
Speaker:place in Victoria.
Speaker:What's in these like, I'll come
Speaker:back.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:But it kind of fizzled.
Speaker:So I went off on my own and
Speaker:I searched on my
Speaker:my own self.
Speaker:And I did find
Speaker:a condo that I really loved.
Speaker:And so
Speaker:for me, like I started
Speaker:investing in the stock market,
Speaker:I started doing investments
Speaker:with a
Speaker:financial advisor and that
Speaker:worked out good. And it was like
Speaker:something that we sort of found
Speaker:through my grandpa and stuff.
Speaker:But real estate is
Speaker:like, I just.
Speaker:How far was this after you won
Speaker:the lottery that you got of
Speaker:Financial Advisor?
Speaker:Well, that was right away.
Speaker:I mean, it's
Speaker:kind of like you feel like that's
Speaker:what you're supposed to do.
Speaker:Yeah, everybody's
Speaker:telling you, you know, And
Speaker:so there had been people that
Speaker:like had contacted me
Speaker:through Facebook Messenger.
Speaker:We went to school together.
Speaker:So do you.
Speaker:Need a financial advisor?
Speaker:You know, so my grandpa
Speaker:had a guy locally that
Speaker:worked out fine, but
Speaker:there, you know, and we set things
Speaker:up and there's but
Speaker:there's mistakes that were made
Speaker:that were annoying.
Speaker:And, you know,
Speaker:I sort of through
Speaker:the journey of investments
Speaker:and stuff, I figured
Speaker:because I'm so
Speaker:good at, I like
Speaker:to do it myself.
Speaker:Like, I like to do my own research
Speaker:about investments
Speaker:or like gifts or
Speaker:but, you know, sometimes things
Speaker:aren't good or some things are good,
Speaker:like when
Speaker:the stock market and like when Covid
Speaker:hit, the stock market just went
Speaker:crazy. Like, because streaming
Speaker:I actually had invested in HGTV
Speaker:like the Discovery stock
Speaker:and because I like investing
Speaker:in things that I'm
Speaker:I know like that are
Speaker:meaningful to me or have affected
Speaker:me in my life.
Speaker:So like investing in Discovery
Speaker:was who owned HGTV?
Speaker:And like, so I put the stock and
Speaker:it was just before they announced
Speaker:streaming.
Speaker:And so the stock like Donald
Speaker:was amazing.
Speaker:I mean, I hadn't put a lot, but
Speaker:it was still like, wow, look at
Speaker:that.
Speaker:And so and that was like,
Speaker:I had done that through my
Speaker:advisor because that's how
Speaker:you like, I don't have a trading
Speaker:license.
Speaker:And so but it was
Speaker:my decision.
Speaker:And so.
Speaker:Once there started to be like
Speaker:self trading platforms,
Speaker:I started moving in that direction
Speaker:because I wanted to control it
Speaker:myself.
Speaker:Because there was mistakes made with
Speaker:like moving some money from
Speaker:one to the other for
Speaker:and it had tax implications
Speaker:and our financial
Speaker:advisor done that and it
Speaker:was really kind of like annoying.
Speaker:So, so I
Speaker:just yeah, I decided to take
Speaker:control of myself and then to
Speaker:like,
Speaker:diversify your portfolio.
Speaker:You know, I want to invest in real
Speaker:estate because I wanted
Speaker:a more active investment
Speaker:that I had control over because
Speaker:I had I will be able to buy
Speaker:it. I would be able to do what I
Speaker:wanted to it, and then
Speaker:I would be able to sell it or rent
Speaker:it out or, you know, I wanted
Speaker:you kind of want
Speaker:I'm someone who likes that control
Speaker:and some people or
Speaker:they like to just sit and forget and
Speaker:like just make a bit of money.
Speaker:And, you know, it just depends.
Speaker:If you want to be an active investor
Speaker:or more of a passive investor.
Speaker:And my husband's more passive.
Speaker:He's like, just, you know,
Speaker:let things just go where I'm
Speaker:more like active.
Speaker:Like, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:You were actually on
Speaker:a show, I believe it is called
Speaker:Hustlers, Gamblers
Speaker:and Crooks
Speaker:recently, just recently.
Speaker:And so, yeah, what is
Speaker:that? Where can people find it and
Speaker:what what is that all about?
Speaker:What happened?
Speaker:So I had a friend,
Speaker:you know, tell me about this
Speaker:investment she's done.
Speaker:She had great success.
Speaker:She's been getting some really good
Speaker:returns.
Speaker:So I tried it out.
Speaker:It was with a mortgage broker
Speaker:locally here
Speaker:on the island, Victoria.
Speaker:And it was it was still
Speaker:investing in real estate, doing the
Speaker:short term bridge loan.
Speaker:So like, you would
Speaker:lend out your money through this
Speaker:mortgage broker that would like
Speaker:you. He would put together
Speaker:financing for, you know,
Speaker:projects or people that needed to
Speaker:borrow money for real estate.
Speaker:It was kind of like
Speaker:just sort of like private lending
Speaker:opportunities so
Speaker:that I sort of like once I sold
Speaker:all the real estate and then
Speaker:we just had some actual
Speaker:money to play with.
Speaker:And so I was like, okay, well try
Speaker:this. And I was getting great
Speaker:returns.
Speaker:But unfortunately
Speaker:things went a bit sideways
Speaker:with that situation
Speaker:and
Speaker:the guy took off with
Speaker:over 1200 investors.
Speaker:Money left the country
Speaker:and $300
Speaker:million is gone.
Speaker:Stolen, scammed.
Speaker:$300 million.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:People different.
Speaker:Wow. It turns.
Speaker:Out that.
Speaker:It was a huge
Speaker:scam, that
Speaker:it seemed like a legit investment.
Speaker:I talked to my lawyer, you know,
Speaker:what should I be checking for?
Speaker:And my lawyer said, you know, check
Speaker:with the Mortgage Broker
Speaker:Association. You should make sure
Speaker:he's licensed.
Speaker:Talk to other investors.
Speaker:You know, I spoke to someone who
Speaker:was an exempt
Speaker:market dealer.
Speaker:She said she'd had great success.
Speaker:I did, you know, research
Speaker:the project. It was like other
Speaker:people had success.
Speaker:I tested I did one investment, put
Speaker:some money in, took some money out,
Speaker:got returns.
Speaker:And so then
Speaker:the the company like the
Speaker:company, it was the guy
Speaker:he had this like good really good
Speaker:setup because he
Speaker:started working with people who
Speaker:were in the market dealer
Speaker:like invest private lending
Speaker:sort of area.
Speaker:And they brought this good system
Speaker:that was it was like a portal
Speaker:that investors had so that we could
Speaker:check which investments we were
Speaker:invested in, how what
Speaker:was happening with your payouts.
Speaker:And it was kind of like it was
Speaker:actually a really good system that
Speaker:worked in other
Speaker:like with other investment
Speaker:companies, like there's
Speaker:some companies that you can
Speaker:lend your money and they invest in
Speaker:multifamily in the states,
Speaker:and so they'll invest in apartment
Speaker:buildings. And then you keep your
Speaker:money in there for a year or two and
Speaker:then you get returns back when they
Speaker:sell off the properties and stuff.
Speaker:So I had I knew
Speaker:that that system was
Speaker:being used and so
Speaker:it felt like it was
Speaker:good because you had this good
Speaker:online system
Speaker:that you could see.
Speaker:So
Speaker:the guys.
Speaker:That.
Speaker:Did it totally did, and it was
Speaker:working and it was good.
Speaker:We were getting payouts.
Speaker:But then, yeah, we started not
Speaker:getting payouts and then we
Speaker:started trying to contact
Speaker:the guy and he wasn't reachable
Speaker:and like he wasn't talking.
Speaker:And then there was like people
Speaker:on like Reddit were like
Speaker:talking to other investors, started
Speaker:connecting with each other on
Speaker:Facebook. And we started like,
Speaker:because he would have these like,
Speaker:Zoom calls. And it was but nobody
Speaker:could talk. Nobody could chat.
Speaker:It was just a one way of him like
Speaker:giving us information, You're going
Speaker:to get your payout.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:And so was he.
Speaker:Where was.
Speaker:He?
Speaker:He was originally based in Victoria
Speaker:and, like, he knows a lot of my
Speaker:friends. Like he.
Speaker:He's is.
Speaker:He's not.
Speaker:No. I think he's someone who
Speaker:knew how to work the system.
Speaker:And figured out how to
Speaker:He figured out how to
Speaker:launder money.
Speaker:Really?
Speaker:And do it in a way like,
Speaker:yeah, it's is such a scam.
Speaker:And so he
Speaker:ended up he, he was trying to start
Speaker:this company that was like a
Speaker:competitor to Toro.
Speaker:Do you know what Toro is?
Speaker:It's like a where if you have a car
Speaker:like if you have a fancy car you can
Speaker:or any car you're
Speaker:usually Tesla is or it's a
Speaker:platform where you can rent
Speaker:someone's it's like Airbnb cars.
Speaker:Yeah yeah I am familiar.
Speaker:Yeah. And so he was trying
Speaker:to start this thing called car share
Speaker:that he was had
Speaker:people designing websites and
Speaker:like he had started doing it and so
Speaker:he had moved to California
Speaker:and like he was offering investments
Speaker:that were in with like
Speaker:real estate in California.
Speaker:And then he was doing because
Speaker:he was based in Victoria, but then
Speaker:going down. So he had investors
Speaker:actually from California, he
Speaker:had investors from New York.
Speaker:It's like it's
Speaker:he had people all across America
Speaker:that like, it's crazy.
Speaker:It's going to be the biggest scam in
Speaker:Canada like
Speaker:that ever happened.
Speaker:This guy was.
Speaker:And it's it's still ongoing.
Speaker:Did the is he still missing
Speaker:or is there been accountability for
Speaker:what's happening?
Speaker:So in 2022,
Speaker:this is when he
Speaker:left the country.
Speaker:He said he told the
Speaker:investors that he
Speaker:was he had started
Speaker:volunteering with this company.
Speaker:It's called ah railroad
Speaker:or something. It was like a company
Speaker:that goes and
Speaker:gets.
Speaker:Human trafficking.
Speaker:Like if kids are being human
Speaker:trafficked, they go and like get
Speaker:those kids and rescue them.
Speaker:And so he said he was volunteering,
Speaker:but I don't think he was.
Speaker:I think he went to a gala event and
Speaker:took his picture. And then he used
Speaker:it to say that like he was
Speaker:I think he used it as
Speaker:a decoy or whatever,
Speaker:so that he said
Speaker:he was going to Thailand to go on a
Speaker:mission to like volunteer
Speaker:and be on a mission.
Speaker:And so we were like,
Speaker:that sounds great.
Speaker:Then it's like, turns
Speaker:out he like, skipped the country
Speaker:and knew where
Speaker:he was and no one was getting
Speaker:any money. And it like.
Speaker:Yeah, it all this
Speaker:film like it's gotten
Speaker:like I we
Speaker:invested quite a bit because it was
Speaker:successful and so I was,
Speaker:you know, trying to leverage
Speaker:some
Speaker:money so that like you
Speaker:could, I borrowed a bit so that it
Speaker:was like a tax write
Speaker:off because when you borrow to
Speaker:invest and you get these tax breaks
Speaker:and stuff, So it
Speaker:was kind of like you're getting
Speaker:caught up in like.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And so, yeah,
Speaker:it was devastating.
Speaker:Once we found, like, my friend
Speaker:texted me like he's left the country
Speaker:and it was like the
Speaker:air just came out of me and I just
Speaker:like.
Speaker:It was so crazy
Speaker:to think that someone
Speaker:had intentionally
Speaker:stolen your money like it was
Speaker:it.
Speaker:It's the craziest
Speaker:feeling of
Speaker:devastation.
Speaker:Like, and so then,
Speaker:like, things started appearing
Speaker:on the news.
Speaker:The local news picked it up.
Speaker:And I mean,
Speaker:there's investors that have been
Speaker:completely wiped out like.
Speaker:You know, grandparents that have put
Speaker:their pension in with
Speaker:him and.
Speaker:Like just.
Speaker:Completely devastated and
Speaker:like, we're not devastated at all.
Speaker:We we it was
Speaker:just part of our whole, you
Speaker:know, portfolio and things like
Speaker:that. It's super sucky.
Speaker:It's, you know, a pain
Speaker:in the butt and it feels
Speaker:really like it
Speaker:feels like you've been.
Speaker:Like a crime has happened to you.
Speaker:You like it's weird.
Speaker:It's so strange.
Speaker:And so while that was happening,
Speaker:was reached out
Speaker:by this production company
Speaker:that was producing shows for
Speaker:it was it wasn't named at
Speaker:first the show
Speaker:because they, you know, see me on
Speaker:HGTV. They knew our story.
Speaker:And so it was
Speaker:they approached me more just about
Speaker:like our story of the win.
Speaker:And, you know, they wanted to hear
Speaker:about it. And so the casting
Speaker:people had contacted me and
Speaker:I met with them and I started
Speaker:doing the interview with the casting
Speaker:director. And she's like,
Speaker:that's a great story.
Speaker:It's not like the lottery stuff
Speaker:was a good story, but
Speaker:the the that show
Speaker:was looking for a little bit more.
Speaker:And so I said, I'm not
Speaker:done yet.
Speaker:I got more of the story.
Speaker:And so we got into.
Speaker:For people that are watching or
Speaker:listening, this is for the show
Speaker:Hustlers, gamblers and Crooks
Speaker:on Max.
Speaker:Yeah, right. Okay.
Speaker:So I think known the
Speaker:show would have been named that
Speaker:would have been maybe if
Speaker:I didn't find out that what the
Speaker:show was going to be named I was
Speaker:when I found out like it,
Speaker:I found out what the show was called
Speaker:like way after I filmed
Speaker:it and stuff. And it
Speaker:was a bit devastating to be part
Speaker:of a show that was called Hustlers,
Speaker:Gamblers, Crooks.
Speaker:But I feel
Speaker:thankful that I get to tell my story
Speaker:and at the end of the day, I'm
Speaker:not one of those people that
Speaker:I'm not a hustler, I'm not a crook,
Speaker:I'm not a gambler.
Speaker:I had something happen to me
Speaker:by a crook.
Speaker:And so my
Speaker:story is, you know,
Speaker:interesting enough to tell
Speaker:it and these extreme things
Speaker:that happened.
Speaker:And, you know, I wanted
Speaker:to put awareness about, you know,
Speaker:what can happen
Speaker:easily, that you can get
Speaker:scammed like it's
Speaker:people are out there that those
Speaker:situations that happen and
Speaker:it's.
Speaker:It's tough.
Speaker:And so
Speaker:I loved filming it, though.
Speaker:It was so fun to go and film
Speaker:and slide.
Speaker:It was like, once.
Speaker:It's in Las Vegas.
Speaker:Yeah. So you go through this casting
Speaker:process, so you meet with the
Speaker:casting. We do like a
Speaker:like a virtual meeting.
Speaker:I tell my story and
Speaker:they liked, you know, my
Speaker:the way I am on camera, I guess,
Speaker:and you know the story that I had to
Speaker:tell. And then I
Speaker:hear that they accepted me
Speaker:so once because
Speaker:then, like, once you do your casting
Speaker:tape or whatever, then they take
Speaker:that to the network because the
Speaker:production companies are different
Speaker:than the actual network.
Speaker:So I didn't actually know what
Speaker:network it was going to be for.
Speaker:When you do its cast,
Speaker:they can they just say a
Speaker:large network or or
Speaker:things like that. They don't tell
Speaker:you like which network
Speaker:or anything like that because
Speaker:they don't think they can because
Speaker:they haven't.
Speaker:Maybe like they're still pitching.
Speaker:It's kind of like a you're part
Speaker:your part of the pitch.
Speaker:Like they get like approved
Speaker:for so much money on the show
Speaker:and the show concept gets approved,
Speaker:but then they kind of have to do
Speaker:this pitch like to the network.
Speaker:So once that all
Speaker:came about, then
Speaker:you sign agreements, releases,
Speaker:you got all the paperwork that you
Speaker:need to sign, then you do the
Speaker:scheduling.
Speaker:So they agreed to pay for my
Speaker:flights, so they paid for my flights
Speaker:to L.A. and back.
Speaker:They paid for my Ubers,
Speaker:which Uber is like so
Speaker:fun. I love Uber is
Speaker:like the most revolutionary
Speaker:thing. I think it's the coolest
Speaker:thing. We don't have Uber where.
Speaker:They didn't have that in Canada, or
Speaker:at least now.
Speaker:They have.
Speaker:Like Uber.
Speaker:They've got it set up in Victoria,
Speaker:just got it.
Speaker:But we don't we're not big enough
Speaker:here, I guess. I don't know.
Speaker:We don't have Uber, but it's like
Speaker:amazing that you can like book a car
Speaker:with your phone.
Speaker:So yeah, they set
Speaker:up these vouchers that were like in
Speaker:Uber, and when I got
Speaker:picked up at the airport, I
Speaker:accidentally might have booked
Speaker:a luxury.
Speaker:At the fancy car.
Speaker:Or like the.
Speaker:Production assistant, when she
Speaker:picked me up, she's like, Yeah, So
Speaker:you got a book the, like, regular?
Speaker:Is that how that works?
Speaker:So yeah, I learned how
Speaker:to use Uber,
Speaker:and then they put me up in a hotel
Speaker:for two nights in Burbank, and
Speaker:then the production assistant
Speaker:picked me up from the hotel.
Speaker:We did the filming all in one day.
Speaker:And like, it's always kind of
Speaker:surreal, like getting on a plane
Speaker:because you're going to be going to,
Speaker:like, film something in L.A.
Speaker:And it was
Speaker:like such a cool experience,
Speaker:even though like, it was like
Speaker:a sucky thing to talk about.
Speaker:And it
Speaker:was. But like the whole experience
Speaker:of going and like,
Speaker:getting to do that was super fun.
Speaker:Was I loved it.
Speaker:That sounds fun.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:Really unique opportunity.
Speaker:Yeah. So the other
Speaker:production office that they use
Speaker:there was a few other like
Speaker:shows that are regularly filmed in
Speaker:that production office.
Speaker:So when I get there, they
Speaker:take me into my own green room.
Speaker:Which is.
Speaker:Super fun.
Speaker:It was like, here's all your snacks,
Speaker:here's your own bathroom
Speaker:and your own like sort of place.
Speaker:And they have like a hangar to hang
Speaker:out because I brought a few
Speaker:different outfits. I wasn't sure
Speaker:what I was going to wear. And then
Speaker:you get to meet like the director
Speaker:and like the
Speaker:producer and
Speaker:then the actual like, studio
Speaker:that they actually had set
Speaker:up was the Josh
Speaker:Gates Show.
Speaker:I don't know if you know the
Speaker:show that's on Discovery.
Speaker:It was like his
Speaker:where he does all his talking
Speaker:and like it but they had a green
Speaker:screen set up in front of
Speaker:like all his the all the
Speaker:like background that he uses in his
Speaker:show. And I
Speaker:didn't I never heard of that show.
Speaker:Is that I was like.
Speaker:Is that last Tomb's sunken
Speaker:treasures vanished plant I'm just
Speaker:reading.
Speaker:That.
Speaker:There's a whole different like he
Speaker:has a whole bunch of different shows
Speaker:of like treasures
Speaker:and like he goes hunting for
Speaker:like different things or has
Speaker:like, it's actually his
Speaker:shows are really cool.
Speaker:And so it's the same production
Speaker:company that produces his shows.
Speaker:And then they're they
Speaker:were like, Dr. Pimple
Speaker:Popper is upstairs.
Speaker:You can.
Speaker:Go. And like you, she's filming
Speaker:right now. Like, you could go and
Speaker:say hi. I was like, What?
Speaker:Yeah. So because my husband.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But it's really neat to like.
Speaker:You know, be where those people
Speaker:are and like that that stuff is
Speaker:happening and stuff.
Speaker:And so.
Speaker:So then they get ready and then
Speaker:like, they set you up
Speaker:in the
Speaker:where the filming is.
Speaker:So it's like just a big green screen
Speaker:behind you.
Speaker:And then they they
Speaker:had like kind of like all the
Speaker:questions, kind of like
Speaker:they because they'd seen my
Speaker:interviews. So they kind of they
Speaker:know what you were going to talk
Speaker:about. So then they have specific
Speaker:questions, kind of like steer
Speaker:you in the direction that the
Speaker:director wants you
Speaker:to do.
Speaker:And like they're they're a bit
Speaker:dramatic when they say, like,
Speaker:it was my nightmare.
Speaker:Where you said.
Speaker:No. Well, the director kind of says
Speaker:like, you know what happened here?
Speaker:Like, they kind of like get
Speaker:you to say some dramatic
Speaker:things that, like, you know,
Speaker:it's for this show.
Speaker:It's how they added it together.
Speaker:So it was
Speaker:like
Speaker:but I actually, you know, watching
Speaker:it back when I watched it back of
Speaker:like how they pieced it, how they
Speaker:added it, they did it really,
Speaker:really good. And like, I was really
Speaker:proud of myself the way
Speaker:I talked on the show and how
Speaker:I explained what happened.
Speaker:And it really
Speaker:was very cohesive the way that
Speaker:they edit it and the way
Speaker:it really tells the story
Speaker:really. Like I told the story really
Speaker:good, but they edited it really
Speaker:good. And but I didn't
Speaker:I didn't know, I, I didn't know
Speaker:what the show was going to be about.
Speaker:It was like they
Speaker:had started the production.
Speaker:You know, we have lunch together and
Speaker:like, they talk about kind of like
Speaker:what the show is about and
Speaker:like, what? Because they have to go
Speaker:and interview people
Speaker:and they have to like most people,
Speaker:they were able to do virtual
Speaker:interviews. So they like
Speaker:interviewed, you know, tons
Speaker:of people trying to source
Speaker:content and people and
Speaker:like they talked about the guy
Speaker:who was on a different episode, but
Speaker:that like he was an A bet
Speaker:and he like got that have
Speaker:fake boobs and then like he ended
Speaker:up.
Speaker:Keeping so
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:Someone for him to have fake boobs
Speaker:and then he did. Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. Like some of these stories
Speaker:that like after
Speaker:like I watched, you know, all the
Speaker:stories and like how they
Speaker:pieced together each of the stories
Speaker:that actually the way
Speaker:the stories were.
Speaker:And it was good and it was
Speaker:entertaining. It was like
Speaker:it was a good shows
Speaker:on. I think it's still on streaming.
Speaker:It's on Discovery.
Speaker:They came out this year in March.
Speaker:Is it on Max or.
Speaker:Yeah, I think so, yeah.
Speaker:Discovery Max or because it's now
Speaker:HBO Max or
Speaker:I think in Canada it's on
Speaker:Discovery plus.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I think in the States it's HBO
Speaker:Max or something.
Speaker:I think there was somebody bought
Speaker:somebody out or something.
Speaker:But yeah, it's on there.
Speaker:And the weird
Speaker:thing that's really weird
Speaker:is like, once you have
Speaker:something happen to you, it's like
Speaker:this crime and this, like, crazy
Speaker:thing.
Speaker:You kind of, like, get
Speaker:obsessed about looking up things on
Speaker:the Internet about like, the people
Speaker:that are involved or the
Speaker:situations.
Speaker:And like, I guess he had this
Speaker:partner in California that
Speaker:like, was helping him with mortgage
Speaker:brokering and it was like another
Speaker:arm that they were trying to get
Speaker:going or something.
Speaker:And so supposedly
Speaker:this guy had no idea about what
Speaker:he was doing with this other,
Speaker:you know, short term bridge loan
Speaker:kind of stuff.
Speaker:And there was
Speaker:so I looked him up on Instagram
Speaker:and then he was friends
Speaker:with this guy in Las Vegas
Speaker:that does all this betting.
Speaker:You know, he could see it get to
Speaker:I've seen him tagged in the pictures
Speaker:with him.
Speaker:And then there was a guy that was
Speaker:like on my show, his name's
Speaker:Mickey Mace, and he's crazy gambler
Speaker:like the things that he did was
Speaker:like, crazy, like just
Speaker:millions of dollars in the casinos.
Speaker:And it ended up that
Speaker:those two people are friends.
Speaker:And so it was like this four degrees
Speaker:of separation
Speaker:from my situation
Speaker:that it was like, wow,
Speaker:it's like small world.
Speaker:But that's what social media does.
Speaker:You can find these connections that,
Speaker:like, you didn't
Speaker:expect or, you
Speaker:know, it was like, interesting to
Speaker:see that connection
Speaker:with like.
Speaker:Just situation also
Speaker:happened.
Speaker:But yeah, the.
Speaker:But the
Speaker:where we're at with like
Speaker:what happened to us.
Speaker:The reason why it all played
Speaker:out is that there was one investor
Speaker:that invested like $17 million
Speaker:and the he
Speaker:ended up hiring a lawyer
Speaker:and the lawyer
Speaker:got this guy
Speaker:put into bankruptcy, like forced
Speaker:bankruptcy through the courts.
Speaker:And so that's how it all played out.
Speaker:And then the guy left the country
Speaker:and and like, you know, it
Speaker:was like every day on the news,
Speaker:it was like something more has
Speaker:happened with this crazy
Speaker:mortgage broker that, like, did all
Speaker:these investing.
Speaker:And so then, you know, we're
Speaker:watching all the courts play out.
Speaker:So he gets put into bankruptcy, then
Speaker:the trustee takes over.
Speaker:So then the trustee is the one
Speaker:that's looking at, you know,
Speaker:where are the funds where like
Speaker:they're the ones that get appointed
Speaker:because of the bankruptcy.
Speaker:And in the meantime, the regulator
Speaker:is checking.
Speaker:But like to this day,
Speaker:I mean, it's it's now a year and a
Speaker:half later, it's still no charges
Speaker:have been pressed, no criminal
Speaker:charges.
Speaker:He's only.
Speaker:I have no idea.
Speaker:It's ridiculous.
Speaker:It's like.
Speaker:It's weird.
Speaker:It's strange.
Speaker:It's like the trustee
Speaker:had to.
Speaker:To look and,
Speaker:like. So then the trustee
Speaker:has to contact the banks to
Speaker:say, like, where is this money?
Speaker:And then the banks have to say,
Speaker:we don't have the money.
Speaker:And then the trustee says to say,
Speaker:Well, can you show me where the
Speaker:money went?
Speaker:Say no.
Speaker:And the banks were withholding the
Speaker:information
Speaker:from this trustee.
Speaker:And so then
Speaker:more stuff happens.
Speaker:But like in the meantime, we've
Speaker:given statements to the regulator
Speaker:who's the authority.
Speaker:But like, it's just it's a weird
Speaker:situation and it's kind of like
Speaker:frustrating that it hasn't
Speaker:gotten to
Speaker:it's like held up with the trustee
Speaker:because we were we're
Speaker:all kind of waiting for it.
Speaker:It's called the funds flow analysis
Speaker:of like where the funds went.
Speaker:And so just only
Speaker:just like a month ago,
Speaker:they they went back to court
Speaker:because of this bankruptcy and
Speaker:they haven't finished the funds flow
Speaker:analysis. But they've they've
Speaker:come to the determination that it's
Speaker:a Ponzi.
Speaker:Is like a Ponzi scheme.
Speaker:Yeah. So we I.
Speaker:I had kind of like.
Speaker:But, you know, we
Speaker:all kind of like were suspicious
Speaker:that it was because of
Speaker:like the whole dynamic
Speaker:of what what how
Speaker:it all played out.
Speaker:But
Speaker:we had kind of always
Speaker:thought that it was maybe just a
Speaker:failed, failed business venture.
Speaker:But no, he's actually
Speaker:like scamming,
Speaker:stealing and
Speaker:paying one person.
Speaker:And then, you know, it's like it's a
Speaker:Ponzi. And so.
Speaker:Basically paying paying
Speaker:money from
Speaker:the new investors to
Speaker:the old investors, that gets old
Speaker:like.
Speaker:That. The Internet was just like,
Speaker:yeah. And so, like you,
Speaker:I think it's still to
Speaker:be determined if there was
Speaker:like transaction like how
Speaker:the banks still or like
Speaker:need to supply information
Speaker:and like it all went through
Speaker:the World Bank and the World
Speaker:Bank just got fined $7 million
Speaker:from the like
Speaker:Canadian regulator because
Speaker:they weren't providing documentation
Speaker:that the regulator needed like in
Speaker:general floor to,
Speaker:you know, look so that the
Speaker:regulator can be sure that they're
Speaker:looking for fraudulent transactions.
Speaker:I think there's been a few banks
Speaker:that have had fines lately for
Speaker:not providing documentation that's
Speaker:required in
Speaker:to make sure that,
Speaker:you know, money laundering is not
Speaker:happening and stuff like that.
Speaker:So it's kind of like.
Speaker:Really relevant to what's happening
Speaker:to us to see like.
Speaker:That these banks are getting
Speaker:fined for not
Speaker:providing. And it's like and then
Speaker:this funds flow analysis is taking
Speaker:like so long because
Speaker:what's kind of also happening,
Speaker:which is really frustrating for
Speaker:a lot of the investors that
Speaker:is it's
Speaker:it's impacted our tax returns.
Speaker:So because we were
Speaker:getting investment income we were
Speaker:getting t fives is what it's
Speaker:called when you get investment
Speaker:income.
Speaker:It turns out he wasn't
Speaker:supposed to be giving t fives
Speaker:because only like someone who's
Speaker:licensed for investments
Speaker:can give T for like a bank or
Speaker:something like that.
Speaker:So in the meantime, we
Speaker:done a tax return saying that we
Speaker:got income but we hadn't actually
Speaker:got paid.
Speaker:So we had to do tax returns
Speaker:with income we hadn't received.
Speaker:So now we're having to do this
Speaker:reconciliation of
Speaker:accounts. And
Speaker:in the meantime, like CRA is
Speaker:like is it's kind of like our IRS.
Speaker:It's the same.
Speaker:They're kind of waiting for this
Speaker:funds flow analysis
Speaker:because they need to make a
Speaker:determination for the investors
Speaker:of how we can reconcile our taxes.
Speaker:So it's like this whole loop of like
Speaker:the trustees waiting for the banks
Speaker:and the bank, you know, the
Speaker:taxes are waiting for the
Speaker:the trustee.
Speaker:And like it's all this circle
Speaker:of like things that are
Speaker:getting happened.
Speaker:And in the meantime, like, I think
Speaker:that in order to press criminal
Speaker:charges they needs this funds flow
Speaker:analysis to see that there was
Speaker:actual like criminal activity with
Speaker:funds and it's just
Speaker:it's a mess.
Speaker:well I'm so I'm so sorry
Speaker:to hear that.
Speaker:Like it's taken over
Speaker:the last, like year and a half
Speaker:of our lives of like, what's
Speaker:happened and like that
Speaker:you're just so caught up in, in your
Speaker:involved in like, it's like affects
Speaker:you mentally
Speaker:of like this happened to us and
Speaker:like it's really depressing
Speaker:that you could be
Speaker:involved in that you know and
Speaker:get scammed and like it's so weird.
Speaker:It's not
Speaker:I never
Speaker:thought that would happen or,
Speaker:you know, you know.
Speaker:Like.
Speaker:It's so weird.
Speaker:Yeah, I'm sure it came across
Speaker:as being very legitimate.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:How do you what would you say to
Speaker:people to how to watch out
Speaker:for that type of thing?
Speaker:And also, was there a background
Speaker:check on this person?
Speaker:I did check for like a broker
Speaker:license and on the like
Speaker:authority, like the regulator that
Speaker:regulated him. He did have an active
Speaker:license because he did do
Speaker:mortgage brokering for
Speaker:like residential mortgage
Speaker:broker, like that was his business.
Speaker:And then this,
Speaker:like private lending was kind of
Speaker:like a thing he did on the side kind
Speaker:of thing. So he did have
Speaker:like a legitimate front business.
Speaker:And then it was just sort of this
Speaker:other side of things.
Speaker:And so it's just it's hard
Speaker:to know.
Speaker:Like it's hard to check
Speaker:for scammers, you know,
Speaker:like it's.
Speaker:It's so weird.
Speaker:It's just.
Speaker:It's.
Speaker:You think it's something's legit and
Speaker:it's not. And like, I mean,
Speaker:the returns were good.
Speaker:You have to be
Speaker:conscious of when things are too
Speaker:good to be true, like they probably
Speaker:are. It's like when you look on
Speaker:Facebook marketplace and you're
Speaker:like, that's a good deal.
Speaker:That's a good deal. I mean, you
Speaker:click on it, you're like, it's a
Speaker:scam,
Speaker:you know, but it's evident.
Speaker:Whereas this is like it was this
Speaker:whole facade of like
Speaker:he had people working for him
Speaker:that were like his
Speaker:people to get the investor set up.
Speaker:He had relationships with
Speaker:other like licensed
Speaker:investors that I had checked with
Speaker:to see, you know, how is it for you
Speaker:and stuff like, like it.
Speaker:It was kind of a perfect storm of
Speaker:like.
Speaker:Yeah, it's just weird.
Speaker:But how it all
Speaker:happened.
Speaker:Yeah. Well, I'm so sorry to hear
Speaker:that. It sounds really sophisticated.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And involved.
Speaker:What? What advice would you give
Speaker:to.
Speaker:People that come across
Speaker:sudden wealth or they just have some
Speaker:extra money where they want to
Speaker:invest. How do you watch out for
Speaker:someone?
Speaker:I would say, like
Speaker:right now,
Speaker:looking back, I would have just
Speaker:invested in EFT and
Speaker:got the dividends and
Speaker:lived happily ever after.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And because I think
Speaker:there is risk in the stock market.
Speaker:But you know,
Speaker:there is or
Speaker:there's, I think, stability
Speaker:in like having a base
Speaker:and then like having that extra
Speaker:money you can kind of play around
Speaker:with and stuff.
Speaker:And it's hard to.
Speaker:What advice to tell people because
Speaker:it's there's
Speaker:so many things you can
Speaker:do right and there's so many things
Speaker:you could risk and do wrong.
Speaker:So it's
Speaker:and I've
Speaker:learned that you can't
Speaker:trust everybody.
Speaker:And advice sometimes is wrong.
Speaker:Like, you know,
Speaker:a lot with
Speaker:online, there's been a lot of
Speaker:like people who have come into
Speaker:wealth because of whatever.
Speaker:If they've invested in short term
Speaker:rentals or if they've invested in,
Speaker:you know, the stock market or
Speaker:there's so much out there that you
Speaker:can just get sucked into the way
Speaker:that it's played out for that
Speaker:person. And then they sell you this
Speaker:course or this thing or this
Speaker:and like you can totally get
Speaker:influenced so easily
Speaker:and it's
Speaker:hard to know who to trust,
Speaker:especially now, like what's happened
Speaker:to us and stuff.
Speaker:I it's hard to have
Speaker:advice.
Speaker:Well, yeah, I hope that they
Speaker:resolve that soon.
Speaker:And you guys are
Speaker:able to get your money back
Speaker:after you.
Speaker:We went through this.
Speaker:You trying to look at what happened
Speaker:with the Bernie Madoff situation?
Speaker:So that's taken, I
Speaker:think, 10 to 12 years
Speaker:of
Speaker:the I think
Speaker:what happened with that is that they
Speaker:assigned the the regulator,
Speaker:like the financial regulator or
Speaker:of security investing in the
Speaker:states. They assigned a working
Speaker:group or like a committee
Speaker:that was specifically only for
Speaker:the Madoff situation.
Speaker:And they basically took
Speaker:the net winners and the net losers
Speaker:and then they evened everybody
Speaker:out, I think is what happened.
Speaker:So like, some people had to pay
Speaker:back.
Speaker:And some in there were.
Speaker:So there's net winners and losers.
Speaker:And so I don't know if this
Speaker:is how this situation is going to
Speaker:play out is like the people
Speaker:because there was people who had it
Speaker:been investing with him for
Speaker:like ten years.
Speaker:Right. And so they've been getting
Speaker:returns and returns and
Speaker:like, you know, they're
Speaker:going to possibly have to pay back.
Speaker:But I don't know.
Speaker:I mean, we were only so
Speaker:recently in it that we're
Speaker:definitely a net loser.
Speaker:So we would get paid
Speaker:back if it.
Speaker:But, I mean, people would have to
Speaker:sell. People just go bankrupt
Speaker:before they would pay,
Speaker:you know, stuff back.
Speaker:So I don't know.
Speaker:It would I don't know if there's
Speaker:any hope. I think the main
Speaker:thing is that we want our taxes, our
Speaker:taxes sorted out so that we
Speaker:can claim the loss
Speaker:on our taxes because we're not there
Speaker:like we were. I'm still working with
Speaker:my accountant or kind of waiting
Speaker:for the C.R.A.
Speaker:to make a ruling on
Speaker:like what kind of loss?
Speaker:Because there's kind of two
Speaker:different losses.
Speaker:There's a capital loss and there's a
Speaker:business loss.
Speaker:So a capital loss is more like
Speaker:if you lost money
Speaker:in a real estate investment,
Speaker:it's like a capital
Speaker:loss where a business
Speaker:loss is something that you're sort
Speaker:of getting interest in income
Speaker:off of regularly and like.
Speaker:So we could spread the loss over a
Speaker:couple of years, which would be more
Speaker:beneficial for us.
Speaker:But a capital loss, you have to
Speaker:claim it in the year that you
Speaker:got that the loss happened.
Speaker:So we're hopeful that
Speaker:it will be more of a business
Speaker:loss and that we can kind of
Speaker:claim it over because then we'll
Speaker:even out on our taxes and stuff
Speaker:like that. And then I
Speaker:don't know if we ever got paid
Speaker:back something, then we have to sort
Speaker:it out later.
Speaker:Yeah, we're just sort of hopeful
Speaker:that that kind of gets reconciled
Speaker:with the tax agency.
Speaker:But I mean, they're all
Speaker:depending on these other people
Speaker:writing the information.
Speaker:So it's kind of a bit of a
Speaker:whole wait
Speaker:waiting game.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. I'm so sorry to hear that.
Speaker:It sounds like I mean, it's really
Speaker:been a whirlwind from
Speaker:winning the lottery this very,
Speaker:you know, wonderful.
Speaker:And now it's wonderful.
Speaker:But it's like
Speaker:it changes your life and, you
Speaker:know, having this happen to us,
Speaker:it's a try to see
Speaker:from every situation of like, what
Speaker:good things happen from
Speaker:even negative things.
Speaker:It's it's still hard to see
Speaker:right now like what's come out.
Speaker:I mean I got to go film
Speaker:that show in L.A.
Speaker:and like the the casting
Speaker:director I said, you know, if if
Speaker:I hadn't had that last what I've
Speaker:been on this show.
Speaker:She said, No, you wouldn't.
Speaker:So, I mean, that was what
Speaker:thing that.
Speaker:But I would have rather not had
Speaker:the loss than
Speaker:if.
Speaker:Yeah it's
Speaker:it's kind of it's just weird how
Speaker:things play out that you
Speaker:don't expect your, you know, turn
Speaker:of events or
Speaker:it's. Yeah, that's what life
Speaker:is though. Life you know has
Speaker:throws those curveballs and stuff
Speaker:like that. I mean yeah
Speaker:it's nobody
Speaker:expected Covid and that happened and
Speaker:like so it's, it's like
Speaker:yeah it's life.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. Now it is time to move on.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well, yeah, that's.
Speaker:I'm sorry to hear that.
Speaker:Yeah, it's.
Speaker:Yeah. I mean, it sounds really
Speaker:weird.
Speaker:Yeah, it's weird to like the.
Speaker:Because what's happened in Canada
Speaker:is
Speaker:I don't know if you've heard that
Speaker:the news agencies are not allowed
Speaker:to post on social media.
Speaker:No. W Have you
Speaker:heard that?
Speaker:No. Yeah.
Speaker:So we
Speaker:like this situation
Speaker:that's happened to us.
Speaker:Like there's been some news media
Speaker:about this guy and like, it's like,
Speaker:so it's on like the 5:00 news,
Speaker:but we can't
Speaker:get you can't even post on social
Speaker:media. Like, I can't share a link
Speaker:from a newspaper
Speaker:and like, stuff like, it's very
Speaker:strange. And so.
Speaker:What has happened to us hasn't
Speaker:been in the media that much, like
Speaker:it hasn't really been.
Speaker:But, you know,
Speaker:because, you know, people
Speaker:have kind of transitioned to getting
Speaker:their their news from social
Speaker:media now. You know, we don't watch
Speaker:TV as much.
Speaker:You kind of engage with social
Speaker:media. So you kind of you have
Speaker:to actually go
Speaker:to the like website of the news
Speaker:agencies and but not
Speaker:as many people do that.
Speaker:I mean, so it's been
Speaker:a bit of a change.
Speaker:The government like
Speaker:this law that like something
Speaker:changed with the media and the media
Speaker:said, okay, we're not posting
Speaker:it. So it's like it
Speaker:hasn't had a lot of awareness about
Speaker:like because
Speaker:like if you think of like
Speaker:the Bernie Madoff thing, I mean, it
Speaker:was a big thing.
Speaker:But this is this is the biggest one
Speaker:in Canada. $300 million
Speaker:is like.
Speaker:But it hasn't really but I don't
Speaker:know if that's because he hasn't had
Speaker:a criminal charge yet, because
Speaker:they haven't charged him
Speaker:yet with anything.
Speaker:So I don't know.
Speaker:Obviously was not predicted.
Speaker:It was terrible
Speaker:and shocking.
Speaker:And yeah, just came
Speaker:out of, you know, not something you
Speaker:expected. But what about
Speaker:things that you do expect
Speaker:in life? Because a lot
Speaker:of people are watching or listening
Speaker:to this are also into
Speaker:the power of visualization and
Speaker:manifestation and that sort
Speaker:of thing. And the last time that we
Speaker:spoke, we spoke briefly
Speaker:a little bit about that.
Speaker:And I was just curious what your
Speaker:thoughts are because you had some
Speaker:things happen before your
Speaker:lottery win
Speaker:that.
Speaker:Yeah, I.
Speaker:I did have some things happen.
Speaker:And I think because you're open to
Speaker:it, you know,
Speaker:it happens. And if you
Speaker:have that mindset and that way of
Speaker:thinking, then.
Speaker:Things were happening.
Speaker:But it's.
Speaker:I feel like.
Speaker:I'm like stuck right now
Speaker:in, like a not.
Speaker:I don't know. I feel like kind of
Speaker:like, where do I go
Speaker:from here? It's like this regrouping
Speaker:of, like and
Speaker:like, it's hard when you have
Speaker:something happen that's in a
Speaker:negative way to
Speaker:it's, it's when you're, when things
Speaker:are positive and things you're like,
Speaker:yeah, that was, that was the sign I
Speaker:got. Or, you know, I had a dream or
Speaker:I had this thing that someone gave
Speaker:me. And, you know, that's,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:And so it's
Speaker:like I have to figure out how
Speaker:to kind of move forward from
Speaker:negativity to kind of get back to
Speaker:that of like, openness
Speaker:to like things happening
Speaker:for a reason or what, You
Speaker:know, it's, it's kind of it gives me
Speaker:a bit of a hit to your
Speaker:sort of mental way
Speaker:being in stuff.
Speaker:I did actually find
Speaker:the person who I
Speaker:talked to about the little I
Speaker:received something at work in the
Speaker:mail. It was a little
Speaker:it's called an organ.
Speaker:She had I had talked to her on the
Speaker:phone and we talked
Speaker:about some something
Speaker:that she was thinking about property
Speaker:that she was buying or something.
Speaker:And I'd helped her over the phone.
Speaker:And then she sent me this lovely
Speaker:note, like just
Speaker:like about a week after our phone
Speaker:call, it appeared at the office and
Speaker:it was like, Here's this
Speaker:like orgone.
Speaker:And it's like, so, you know,
Speaker:this will help you.
Speaker:And then like a month later, we won
Speaker:the lottery and stuff.
Speaker:And like I it
Speaker:was so weird that that kind
Speaker:of happened. And then I'd always
Speaker:I kept I kept I keep it
Speaker:always in my purse and
Speaker:I, I finally figured
Speaker:out who she is.
Speaker:And so I want
Speaker:to go and, like, meet her
Speaker:and talk to her.
Speaker:And so I think
Speaker:I feel like maybe
Speaker:if I think I need to do that
Speaker:and I haven't done that yet.
Speaker:So that's something that maybe
Speaker:we can I can do it.
Speaker:We can talk about it.
Speaker:That's great.
Speaker:I want to try to film, like meeting
Speaker:with her because she's she
Speaker:doesn't know
Speaker:that that happened to us after, like
Speaker:she and she's
Speaker:kind of like someone who
Speaker:does, you know, readings
Speaker:and she has
Speaker:she makes these organs that have
Speaker:these positive
Speaker:things, you know, when you have
Speaker:these things. So I think it
Speaker:would be neat to connect with her.
Speaker:And so I think I have to do
Speaker:that soon.
Speaker:Yeah, that would be that would be
Speaker:really neat. So what sort of
Speaker:orgone? Like what what exactly was
Speaker:it?
Speaker:It's like a little
Speaker:it's like an a poxy thing that's
Speaker:like a little it.
Speaker:And it has things that are inside of
Speaker:it that have like
Speaker:maybe
Speaker:metaphysical qualities in the
Speaker:rocks or the things that.
Speaker:And I think it stems
Speaker:from a bit of a Scottish thing
Speaker:I think is an orgone and
Speaker:which is kind of neat because I'm
Speaker:like Mckenzie's.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:I think it was a really neat gesture
Speaker:that somebody did for me.
Speaker:And, and so I,
Speaker:you know, want to
Speaker:kind of re regroup and see,
Speaker:you know, thank her
Speaker:for her kind gesture
Speaker:and and stuff like that.
Speaker:So I think that I should do that.
Speaker:But I don't want to, I,
Speaker:I, I want her to figure out who
Speaker:I am until I actually meet her in
Speaker:person.
Speaker:Speaking about meeting in person,
Speaker:have you had people what sort of
Speaker:reactions do you get?
Speaker:Reactions from anyone on the street
Speaker:that has seen you on any of these
Speaker:shows or.
Speaker:No, no, nobody.
Speaker:Like I.
Speaker:I think like once when we were on
Speaker:vacation in Mexico, somebody
Speaker:recognized my husband.
Speaker:And then I went, I, I
Speaker:when I took my. Graham, No, I took
Speaker:my kids.
Speaker:We, I took my kids on an Alaska
Speaker:cruise like two years ago.
Speaker:And we I, it was so
Speaker:fun. I loved taking them on a
Speaker:cruise. I used to work on cruise
Speaker:ships.
Speaker:So taking my kids back
Speaker:and showing them like where I used
Speaker:to work and the fun things I used to
Speaker:do and stuff.
Speaker:And it was we had the best time.
Speaker:And I sat down when
Speaker:the first day we got on the ship and
Speaker:then we go up to the deck and we sit
Speaker:on the lounge chairs and
Speaker:I sit next to this,
Speaker:this lady, and she was so nice.
Speaker:We started talking and she was like
Speaker:from close to where I lived.
Speaker:And she said, I recognize
Speaker:you.
Speaker:And I was like, Well, I don't know.
Speaker:Like, do you know?
Speaker:Do you know do where do you live
Speaker:and stuff?
Speaker:And she's like,
Speaker:I just I recognize you.
Speaker:Well, do you watch HGTV?
Speaker:And she said.
Speaker:Yes, that's you.
Speaker:And I said, Yeah.
Speaker:That was nice.
Speaker:And then, but it was so
Speaker:neat. And. It was like I made
Speaker:friends with them and we hung out
Speaker:the rest of the cruise.
Speaker:We like had dinners together
Speaker:and like it was just such
Speaker:a great.
Speaker:You know, people don't fan girl.
Speaker:They just like want they love
Speaker:hearing your story.
Speaker:They love hearing what happened to
Speaker:us. And like, it's
Speaker:it's such a great story to share.
Speaker:And so it was neat to have
Speaker:someone, like, recognize me and
Speaker:knew me from that story.
Speaker:I haven't been to Vegas, so I don't
Speaker:know if like I go to Vegas.
Speaker:If anything,
Speaker:I'd like to go to
Speaker:do some do a trip
Speaker:to Vegas and I think that would be
Speaker:fun.
Speaker:Yeah, it's such a such a fun city.
Speaker:Although it doesn't have the
Speaker:lottery, it's it's
Speaker:no surprise. And they don't offer
Speaker:the the lottery out of all of the
Speaker:gambling.
Speaker:Like you can't buy lottery tickets.
Speaker:They don't sell them in the state of
Speaker:Nevada.
Speaker:So what?
Speaker:Powerball?
Speaker:Yeah. No Powerball.
Speaker:Everyone goes.
Speaker:Well, not everyone, but
Speaker:it's crazy.
Speaker:If you take a road trip
Speaker:across the United States and you're
Speaker:in the corner of.
Speaker:Like, right where California and
Speaker:Nevada meet.
Speaker:There's this store
Speaker:that's literally just over
Speaker:the border in California.
Speaker:And all the people from a
Speaker:lot of people from Nevada go there.
Speaker:And there's these lines around the
Speaker:store to buy lottery tickets
Speaker:because they're in Nevada.
Speaker:Yeah, I did not know that.
Speaker:Yeah, it's.
Speaker:Pretty hard to believe.
Speaker:It's crazy.
Speaker:I, I when we went to Disneyland,
Speaker:I bought I bought tickets for the
Speaker:Powerball.
Speaker:Because I think you.
Speaker:Can win as a Canadian.
Speaker:You can actually win
Speaker:if you're like if you buy the ticket
Speaker:in person or whatever.
Speaker:I think there's it's
Speaker:still I heard it still work
Speaker:this.
Speaker:Yeah, you can definitely win as a
Speaker:foreign, you know, as a
Speaker:nonresident and you could still go
Speaker:out and win and that would be a
Speaker:story to tell.
Speaker:My God.
Speaker:Lottery jackpot.
Speaker:Yeah, I know.
Speaker:I hope I can win another one.
Speaker:I'm. I'm trying to I'm still
Speaker:doing you know, I still play the
Speaker:B.C. Children's Hospital.
Speaker:Jimmy Kimmel had one that he just
Speaker:did for hospital.
Speaker:Cause I think if he had taken his
Speaker:son to the hospital.
Speaker:So then, like, they were doing a
Speaker:hospital, a lottery.
Speaker:So I bought those tickets and
Speaker:there's like a lot of fundraisers.
Speaker:Like especially nowadays,
Speaker:things are more virtual and stuff.
Speaker:There's a lot of like raffles and
Speaker:I the hockey we like
Speaker:our kids are both in hockey and they
Speaker:always do 5050s.
Speaker:So ah, I do enter those and
Speaker:I do actually win those
Speaker:so.
Speaker:Well yeah.
Speaker:We will have to.
Speaker:When that happens, we're going to
Speaker:have to book the next interview,
Speaker:that third, third interview.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's totally possible.
Speaker:We're here with Lana Mckenzie.
Speaker:Lana, where can people
Speaker:find you?
Speaker:Are you on social media?
Speaker:I am L'antigene zero zero.
Speaker:That's my Instagram.
Speaker:I'm hopeful that I'm going to have
Speaker:a YouTube channel.
Speaker:Welcome to me.
Speaker:Do a little videos about me
Speaker:in my life.
Speaker:So yeah, I would love to see
Speaker:people reach out to me on social
Speaker:media and
Speaker:I try to do some engaging
Speaker:videos.
Speaker:For.
Speaker:Fun.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:And we will put links to
Speaker:those in the shownotes.
Speaker:If you're listening to this or in
Speaker:the description of this
Speaker:video, if you're watching on
Speaker:YouTube.
Speaker:But Lana,
Speaker:I really, really appreciate your
Speaker:time today.
Speaker:It sounds like you have really been
Speaker:through so much and
Speaker:your lottery story
Speaker:and experience is very inspiring.
Speaker:And it's just everything is
Speaker:You've been through a lot.
Speaker:Is there anything else that you
Speaker:wanted to say today that I
Speaker:didn't ask or that you just want to
Speaker:say today?
Speaker:I just I want to say thanks
Speaker:to you. Like having the connection
Speaker:that I made with
Speaker:you and your, you know, stories
Speaker:that you tell, I think
Speaker:and even reconnecting five
Speaker:years later and you
Speaker:kind of like if there's
Speaker:you hear about something and you
Speaker:tell me and just us having that
Speaker:relationship, I think it's really
Speaker:great. And I love your channel
Speaker:and what you've done on your channel
Speaker:and the stories that you tell
Speaker:or I think it's really neat.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Thank you very much.
Speaker:And your story is very,
Speaker:very inspiring.
Speaker:With the lottery win and with your
Speaker:family. I hope they're doing well.
Speaker:But it's.
Speaker:Yeah, it's.
Speaker:They're great.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's great to see you again.
Speaker:Yeah, you as well.
Speaker:And I hope they resolve.
Speaker:I hope that all the legal
Speaker:all that stuff gets
Speaker:you to meet sooner.
Speaker:Sooner than later.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So. But, yeah.
Speaker:Thank you so much for your time.
Speaker:Thank you. It's so nice to see.
Speaker:You again, too.
Speaker:So that was my interview with Linda
Speaker:McKenzie. Now, what did you think
Speaker:about this interview?
Speaker:Let me know your thoughts by
Speaker:commenting under the YouTube page.
Speaker:For this interview, we will put a
Speaker:link to it along with all the other
Speaker:important links in the show notes.
Speaker:Remember, anything and everything
Speaker:is possible.
Speaker:Thank you so much for listening
Speaker:today and thank you for your
Speaker:support.
