As I mentioned recently, Rebel News Obergruppenfuhrer Ezra Levant's bank account took another boot to the joy department given the recent ruling that he did in fact defame one Dr. Farhan Chak:
I also mentioned that in addition to the $60,000 in damages, Ezra will have to eat his own legal fees -- an amount that I suspect will be significant given the number of years this case has taken, and the number of witnesses that were involved. And Ezra will certainly be smacked with cost awards to cover at least part of Chak's legal bill as well -- a moderately reputable source suggests a combined figure in the vicinity of $150,000-$200,000 (on top of the aforementioned $60,000 in damages), raising the possibility of a financial boot to the head of a quarter million.
What is not clear is whether Ezra has any access to the millions in donations that have rolled in to Rebel's "Fight the Fines" campaign but, given the care with which Ezra crafts fine print, said reputable source suggests there is a simple way for Ezra to (perfectly legally) redirect those donations to his legal fees.
The idea is that as long as Ezra is legally being paid via the "Fight the Fines" campaign for being, say, the executive director, or senior co-ordinator, or whatever officious title he wants to adopt, he would apparently be free to pay himself a salary out of those donations of whatever he wants. And once that money transfers to him as salary, he can of course spend it on whatever he chooses, including personal legal fees.
The above is all speculation, but reputable source assures me that as long as Ezra is allowed to define his own job description related to that fundraising campaign, he is almost certainly free to set his own salary as high as he likes, at which point it's all apparently perfectly legal.
Money well spent, I'm sure.
BONUS TRACK: Same reputable source suggests that, in terms of a cost award, Chak has a compelling argument for not just partial indemnity but substantial indemnity, given the $20,000 award of aggravated damages:
The fact that the judge was sufficiently annoyed with Ezra's assholish behaviour to grant aggravated damages means she will be more receptive to granting a more significant cost award against him.
Again, money well spent, I'm sure.
P.S. If (and I emphasize "if") Ezra can, in fact, legally use "Fight the Fines" donations to cover his personal legal fees, the additional entertainment would be that all those donors are currently entitled to charitable tax receipts. In short, this would mean that Canada Revenue Agency would be allowing tax deductions to assist Ezra in covering his personal legal expenses for defaming someone.
Would this surprise anyone?
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