“Catholic priest convicted in $100,000-fraud case” & “Priest is charged in fraud case”

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The Toronto Globe and Mail

14 September 1981

Winnipeg MB — WINNIPEG (CP) – A Roman Catholic priest has been convicted on two charges of fraud involving about $100,000 that he received eight years ago from a church deacon for business investment and aid to African lepers.

Pius Emanuel Finnin, 53, who was a priest in Alida, Sask., and has been on a leave of absence since 1973, was acquitted on a third, unrelated charge.

Court was told that Rev. Finnin met church deacon Wilfred Joseph Barre and talked about investments promising big profits while producing funds to help the lepers.

Mr. Barre, 49, testified last week that he gave Mr. Finnin $50,000 in January, 1973 and another $50,000 the following November. None of the money was repaid.

Mr. Barre said he and his wife lost contact with Rev. Finnin and after years of silence, they began making inquiries and tracked him to a Toronto motel room.

Mr. Barre said they wanted their funds back but Mr. Finnin told them ”the same story, that it was not the right time to take the monies out.”

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Priest is charged in fraud case

The Toronto Globe and Mail

19 October 1980

Winnipeg MB — WINNIPEG (CP) – Police have charged Pius Emanuel Finnin, a Roman Catholic priest, with fraudulently taking two cheques for $50,000 from a Brandon man in 1973. An RCMP spokesman said the charge against the 57-year-old priest was laid after they were approached by a Brandon man who read about similar charges in Ontario. The charges involved a scheme that promised investors their money back, and in some cases a profit, with extra profits to go to a West African leper colony. Father Finnin was once a priest in the Regina area and also served as parish priest in Alida, Sask.

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