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Friends’ plea to Harold Backer: Please come home

Friends of Harold Backer are pleading for the missing investment adviser to get in touch and come home. With no means of communicating with Backer, who has been missing since Nov.
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Harold Backer has turned himself in to Victoria police

Friends of Harold Backer are pleading for the missing investment adviser to get in touch and come home.

With no means of communicating with Backer, who has been missing since Nov. 3, a former rowing teammate said he and other friends are hoping Backer might catch news reports that make it clear he is loved.

“This is a guy loved by friends around the world who would do anything they can to help him fix whatever the problems are that exist because of his financial decisions in the past,” said Michael Vatis, a partner in the New York offices of law firm Steptoe & Johnson. “He needs to know that he is loved and supported by so many people.”

Vatis, who has known Backer for 30 years and rowed with him at Princeton University, said they have decided to come forward out of concern for Backer’s well-being.

“We really want him to come home,” said Vatis, noting his friend turned 53 on Friday.

Before he disappeared, Backer, a mutual fund dealer, wrote a letter to several of his investment clients expressing remorse for decisions that cost them money and taking responsibility for the financial losses.

He wrote there is no way that he could pay back the losses to his clients and that he was “truly sorry for the effects of my poor decisions.”

Investia Financial, the company where Backer was a registered dealer, said Backer had 20 active clients representing 12 households and that the money lost did not flow through the company.

It is unclear how much money his clients are missing, though a few clients have said they are missing several hundred thousand dollars.

In his letter, Backer suggested a life insurance policy would cover most of the losses.

“I have a Transamerica Life insurance policy, payable to Financial Backer Corp., with a face value of $1.5 million. This amount should be divided among my investors in a pro-rated fashion, either by the grand totals from the most recent investor statements, or by using the original amount invested,” he wrote. “This should cover almost all the amount outstanding.”

Vatis, who saw Backer over the Oct. 22-23 weekend when they rowed for Princeton alumni at the Head of the Charles Regatta, said the Backer he knows would never knowingly hurt any of his clients.

“I have always known Harold to be scrupulously honest, compassionate and eager to help his friends whenever they needed anything. And while everyone makes mistakes — and apparently Harold has, too, judging by his letter — it’s unimaginable to me that he would ever do anything with the intent of hurting anyone,” he said.

Vatis said Backer seemed his usual happy self and in good spirits at the regatta.

Investigations into Backer’s financial dealings are underway by Victoria police, Investia and the B.C. Securities Commission.

Victoria police have said little more than that their missing persons investigation is ongoing, and have not issued updates on the case since a person who appeared to be Backer was recorded on surveillance video cycling away from the Coho car ferry in Port Angeles.

Backer competed as a rower in the Olympics in 1984, 1988 and 1992.

He was reported missing when he didn’t return home after telling his wife he was going for a bicycle ride, likely on the Galloping Goose trail.

aduffy@timescolonist.com