An Edmonton man has been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for multiple convictions after fabricating a threat of gang violence to extort sexual activity and more than $100,000 from his former girlfriend.

Following a three-week trial in Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench, the man, now 39 years old, was convicted of seven charges including assault, sex assault and two counts of extortion. A sentencing hearing was held in late August.

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Court heard how between 2012 and 2016, the woman sent him money after he convinced her that a gang had placed a bounty on them and that he would use her money to pay off the threat.

In sentencing him to 10 1/2 years, Justice Steven Mandziuk noted the woman had given the man between $115,000 and $130,000, and had been “manipulated into financial ruin from which she has only recently begun to recover.”

“Her hard-earned money was largely siphoned into (the man’s) hands,” Mandziuk’s ruling reads.

“She was led to believe a set of facts that caused her enormous harm and robbed her of any semblance of a normal life as she worked to save herself and her family from what she thought was a death sentence for non-compliance with the demands.”

Mandziuk found there was no actual gang involvement.

All identities are protected by a court-ordered publication ban.

With credit for time already served, the man has nine years and 10 months remaining in his sentence.

Crown prosecutors had sought a 14-year term while defence lawyers had argued for eight.

The ruling outlines how by December of 2011 the pair had been in a relationship for three years after meeting in Fort McMurray and moving to Edmonton together.

During that month, the pair broke up, and she moved out of their shared rental home, but soon returned to live as what’s described as “a non-romantic support” for him him while he wrote trade examinations.

Later the same month, he returned from an out-of-town family visit to find her in bed with another man.

The ruling outlines how he threatened to shoot the other man and assaulted the woman: throwing her against a wall, lifting her off the floor and choking her.

She returned several days later to collect her belongings but he refused to let her inside unless she provided sex only to backtrack after the pair were intimate, and again declined to give her property back.

In early January 2012, he visited her home and told her of the supposed gang bounty, claiming that both of them, as well as her family, were in danger.

The ruling describes how they then drove back to the rental house where he handcuffed her to the stairs while he purported to speak to gang members, before releasing her and sexually assaulting her.

For the next four years, she paid the man in cash, sexual favours and household services under the looming bounty.

By May of 2016, she had had enough and stopped responding to his messages.

In her victim impact statement, the woman described how she felt physically, emotionally, psychologically, and financially trapped, forcing her to lead a double-life.

“While under enormous stress, she felt it necessary to present a face to the world that everything was okay,” the ruling’s summary of her statement reads.

“She could not pursue her career, personal, and travel goals. Despite having a good income and working hard, she could barely afford the necessities of life.”

The man also addressed the court, saying he had hoped to marry her and wanted her to pay back the money she owed him and said the prosecution was based on half-true “wild accusations.”

“In general, (the man) justified his actions, showed no remorse, and disputes that there is proof of his criminal conduct,” Mandziuk wrote.

The man was also ordered to pay $115,000 in restitution as well as a fine of an equal amount within three years of his release.

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