A trial date has been set for a former Olympian charged with investor fraud, but he’ll have to wait almost a full year to finally see his day in court.
Harold Magnus Backer will begin his week-long trial by judge alone on Sept. 10, 2018. He is accused of cheating investors out of thousands of dollars in a pyramid scheme.
Last month he plead not guilty to two counts of fraud over $5,000 that were levied against him in June and October of 2015.
READ MORE: Former Olympian pleads not guilty
It was shortly after the charges were filed when Backer disappeared from Victoria, telling his wife he was going for a bike ride and never returned. He left on Nov. 3, 2015 and wasn’t seen again until turning himself into Victoria police earlier this year.
READ MORE: Missing investment banker turns himself into police
Backer has yet to answer questions about where he had been since he disappeared, or why he chose to come back.
He competed in three Olympic Games for the Canadian rowing team: 1984 in Los Angeles, 1988 in Seoul and 1991 in Barcelona. After retiring from the sport he became a rowing coach, before moving into finance and starting his own firm Financial Backer Corp.
