WINNIPEG — Police say Gerald Daniel Blanchard is Canada's most sophisticated bank robber and fraud artist,
a man accused of leading a criminal group that baffled police, flaunted its wealth and lived a jet-set life funded by international heists.
Mr. Blanchard, about whom very little is known, was arrested in January after a three-year investigation and faces more
than 40 charges of theft, fraud and participating in a criminal organization.
He was also charged this week with conspiring to hire a hit man to kidnap and murder his former girlfriend and co-accused,
Lynette Tien, from his jail cell in Headingley, Man.
It's a tale drawn straight from the pages of a pulp fiction thriller, and even police acknowledge they are staggered by its many
twists. The most recent was the recovery of a missing piece of royal jewellery and new charges against Mr. Blanchard in
connection with its disappearance nine years ago.
