Regina woman who embezzled nearly $5M to serve 3 years after extended legal battle

Alena Marie Pastuch received her sentence on Tuesday for an embezzlement investment schemed that dates back to 2006. Jacob Carr reports.

Alena Marie Pastuch, the Regina woman charged with the theft of millions of dollars in an investment scheme has finally received her sentence.

A joint submission between the Crown and Pastuch’s legal representation recommended a sentence of three years, six months with 547 days of remand credit.

Additionally, Justice Catherine Dawson issued a restitution order of $4.9 million to the victims.

Pastuch must surrender herself to the Regina Police Service by Friday, Jan. 23, at 12 p.m.

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The sentence effectively ends a years-long legal saga in Regina.

Previously, Pastuch was convicted in 2019 for embezzling funds, for which she was sentenced to seven years in prison.

The charges were in connection to an investment scheme which began in 2006 and ran for approximately seven years.

Pastuch represented herself in the case, and a new trial was ordered in 2022 after Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal reversed the decision due to claims of a miscarriage of justice and error in fact and law.

This was partially due to a claim from Pastuch that the trial judge denied her application for court-appointed counsel to replace her lawyer who withdrew days before the trial was scheduled to start.

Pastuch’s retrial never occurred due to her entering a guilty plea in September 2024.

However, in December 2025, Pastuch’s legal counsel requested a jury trial in an attempt to reopen sentencing.

The request stemmed from Pastuch’s claims that her former lawyer did not advise her that a jury trial could take place prior to her pleading guilty. If Justice Dawson honoured the request, it would have been Pastuch’s third trial.

However, the request was denied, leading to Tuesday’s sentencing.

After more than a decade, victims of a major investment scam are finally seeing some accountability.

Crown Counsel Dana Brule said he hopes the sentence will bring closure.

“I’m hoping that the victims at this point will now, after over a decade, get some closure in relation to the sentencing,” Brule said. “Thankfully, the judge agreed with the original counsel who made the sentencing, the submission, along with myself as the Crown, and that now Miss Pastuch will be held accountable for the theft of over $4.9 million.”

Justice Catherine Dawson read several victim impact statements in court but declined to name the victims to avoid further trauma.

One man, who lost $55,000, said the loss kept him awake at night. A couple who lost $1.26 million said, “We sold the farm. We had so many exciting plans for the next chapter of our lives… Unfortunately, we met Alena Pastuch and we foolishly invested our hard-earned money in what we now know was a scam.”

Pastuch was sentenced to 730 days in federal prison for the theft.

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