Wife of BC prosecutor pleads not guilty to fraud charges over missing charity money

The wife of a well-known Vancouver Island Crown prosecutor has pleaded not guilty to charges of theft and fraud.

A lawyer for Joanne Lynette McCormick appeared in a Kelowna courtroom April 2, saying his client was pleading not guilty and the case would proceed to a trial by judge alone.

The Nanaimo resident was charged in July 2025 with the BC Prosecution Service appointing a special prosecutor for the case to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

“It’s not a matter that can be heard by a local judge, because of the identity of the accused,” Crown prosecutor Chris Massey told Kelowna Provincial Court Judge Lisa Wyatt.

McCormick is married to veteran Nanaimo Crown prosecutor Basil McCormick, who, according to Nanaimo News Now, went on leave in late 2024.

The case was described in court as a “somewhat complicated fraud matter.”

The 57-year-old is facing two charges of fraud over $5,000 and two charges of theft over $5,000.

Details of how much money McCormick is accused of stealing weren’t given in court, but a civil court filing from three years ago sheds light on the case.

In 2023, the Victoria-based Society for Equity, Inclusion and Advocacy sued McCormick, accusing her of misappropriating $283,000 while she worked as the charity’s bookkeeper.

The Notice of Claim says McCormick was the only person with the PayPal password and transferred donated money to her personal account.

The pandemic delayed auditors, but they allegedly found missing money in late 2021.

Many of the financial records were incomplete and not accessible by the board. Some were kept on McCormick’s personal laptop computer.

“Ms. McCormick engaged in malicious, high-handed, reprehensible, outrageous, vindictive and callous conduct that displayed a flagrant disregard for Society for Equity, Inclusion and Advocacy’s objectives and duties to the public at large, and did so for the express purpose of achieving personal gain,” the Notice of Claim reads. “Ms. McCormick’s actions were patently unlawful, directed towards Society for Equity, Inclusion and Advocacy and intended to deceive (its) members and (its) board of directors.”

The court documents say the charity suffered “egregious harm” as a result of McCormick’s actions.

After the money went missing, donors stopped giving, the organization lost its charitable status, and was forced to close.

It’s unclear what happened to the civil case, as McCormick never responded to the suit.

Neither the allegations in the civil suit nor the criminal charges have been proven in court.

McCormick will be back in court at a later date.