This is purely for entertainment purposes and not educational in nature whatsoever. Names have been changed to protect identities.
You probably have similar ranking in your organization – who is the baddest bad guy you’ve looked at? We are always adjusting our ranking, but “St Gabe” is definitely in our top ten. Interestingly, he has been involved in business deals and litigation against another top contender.
The client, Delta Properties, owns a 50,000 sq ft warehouse. It became concerned that its tenant, “Seville Supplies”, might be doing something illegal or might have difficulties paying their rent. The owner of Seville, “Gabe” would not let the landlord on the premises. Delta was looking for some dirt that might indicate possible wrongdoing; ideally, ammunition to break the lease. They wanted checks on Gabe and Seville.
This was not a question of where to start, but when to stop. The highlights:
GABE:
Has a long history of criminal behaviour, with numerous charges dating back to 1982. The most notable:
1991 – convicted of defrauding his ex-girlfriend, her family and friends, in an investment swindle; he was sentenced to three years in prison. Prior to this, there were approximately twenty convictions for such offences as fraud, obstructing justice and assaulting a policeman.
2003 – skimmed $250,000 off sales taxes from his now-bankrupt office supply business.
2009 – found guilty of a furniture warehouse scheme where purchasers paid up front but no furniture ever existed.
2012 – twenty-eight fraud charges totaling approximately $2 million; several retired people lost their life savings in the “investment scheme”. Sidenote: his wife left him and revoked the bail she had posted.
In 2014, St Gabe attempted to get a judge to agree to permanently and retroactively ban his name from online media. He had 32 fraud convictions at the time. (Denied).
Current charges include:
- Dangerous operation of a motor vehicle
- Unauthorized use of credit card data – 2 charges.
- Three charges of fraud
- Almost 40 civil court cases were found in the jurisdictions in our scope, including:
- Contract law
- Collection of debt
- Economic injury
- Unpaid lease on office space
Most lawsuits ranged from $100,000 to $5 million, with one for $10 million.
Plus defamation cases Gabe filed against Google, Microsoft and Twitter.
And a Writ of seizure and sale for unpaid income tax.
Three personal bankruptcies – one reported $5.6 million in liabilities.
THE COMPANY:
Over 120 total civil court cases were found in the jurisdictions in our scope, highlights include:
- Two contract law cases for $5 million
- A defamation case for over $52 million filed by the company, in relation to an inflammatory Facebook post
- Unpaid rent
- A case against His Majesty the King for $50 million.
There is a Writ of Execution filed by the Ministry of Finance in the amount of $414,000 (usually unpaid taxes).
Credit file reports a high likelihood of severe delinquency.
News items discussed a collaboration with a remote First Nation Band in Northern Ontario. Great way to get government grants and avoid oversight.
Enough dirt, right? The icing on the cake though, was that Gabe was NOT an officer or director of the company, never had been. Thus Gabe COULD NOT LEGALLY BIND THE COMPANY. In other words, the lease is void. Bazinga.