Calgary man convicted in B.C. resort scam files appeal

Craig McMorran and Gus Kalabalikis were convicted of defrauding 85 investors of $2 million in a failed Lake Koocanusa resort. (Supplied/Koocanusa Village)

A Calgary man sentenced to five years and ordered to pay more than $850,000 in restitution to more than a dozen fraud victims is appealing his conviction.

Craig McMorran was convicted in 2024 of selling fake RV sites at a development called Sweetwater Resort near Fernie, B.C. between 2014 and 2017.

He was sentenced to five years for fraud, one year for theft and six months for money laundering in May 2025 after the property was foreclosed and the new owners denied access to anyone who signed leases with McMorran.

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Seventeen people testified during McMorran’s two-week trial, all of whom signed a 50-year lease with him for the purpose of owning a lot at the resort near Lake Koocanusa.

Police said 85 people were defrauded of more than $2 million.

McMorran’s appeal is scheduled for Jan. 13, 2027.