CASES
DUE DILIGENCE - RISK MITIGATION - BACKGROUND CHECKS
Names and locations have been changed to protect the innocent, as well as the not so innocent.

Family Business

Our client was planning to enter into a joint venture with Mr. Robb, an investment banker. She requested a complete Canadian background check. On his company's website, Robb claimed to have thirty years of corporate finance, investment banking and equity financing experience in New York City and Montreal, and Toronto. We found no evidence of this.

We did find that he has been involved in business relationships in various industries for the past thirty or more years with family members. The numerous "red flags" included:

Robb, his father and brother-in-law, as owners and operators of a U.S. housewares company, were found guilty of fraudulent conveyances, fraudulent bankruptcy and other charges in 1995.

This case also resulted in criminal convictions for all three. Robb was found guilty on ten counts, including fraud, conspire to defraud, transportation of stolen property, and fraudulent bankruptcy. He was sentenced to eighteen months in federal prison followed by three years probation, and ordered to make restitution of $676,154. We verified his U.S. prison record.

A lawsuit has been recently initiated against Robb, one of his companies, and his son, by a U.S. taco chain. It appears Robb is a franchisee.

Robb filed for bankruptcy in 1992; liabilities totalled over $8 million.

Robb and one of his companies were sued by a bank in 2005 for "collection of liquidated debt".

The subject, his wife, one of his companies, and its parent company were sued in 1995 by a Toronto employment agency.

Robb, as a director of a now-bankrupt Quebec grocery wholesaler, was found liable to eleven employees for unpaid wages in 2009.

The mortgage financing on Robb's residence, which is in his wife's name, is more than twice the value of the house.

Mortgages totalling approximately $1.5 million are registered against the business property, which is owned by Robb.

Robb has been a principal of several companies of every description. At least five have been dissolved for non-compliance. Six others have been involved in litigation. One company entered into a merger agreement with a Toronto man recently convicted of securities fraud in the U.S.

Weblog postings from disgruntled former clients claiming to have been "robbed" by Mr. Robb.

Having been alerted to the "red flags" as they arose, our client decided that they were no longer interested in Mr. Robb even before our report was complete.