There is a certain irony here in that, if Lloydminster's Patrick Ross had simply kept his mouth shut, accepted that he owed me a pile of money and maybe even offered to engage in serious settlement discussions, he could have eventually dug himself out of the pit he's in, salvaged what little is left of his pathetic life, and moved on. Instead, he chose to threaten both Peter Skinner and myself with idiotic legal actions, to the point where the two of us (and others, by the way) have officially complained about Patrick's behaviour to Canada's Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy (OSB). And here's why that matters.
It's because the OSB does not have a sense of humour and, as you can read here, they have a detailed list of what are considered criminal offences under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) and the Criminal Code of Canada and, based on everything I've learned about Patrick's behaviour over the years and anonymous tips that have trickled in, I'm reasonably convinced that he has committed at least some of those offences, which means that he will have some explaining to do when he is contacted by an OSB agent in the near future.
In particular, I draw your attention to the last criminal offence in that list:
Refuses to respond fully and truthfully to questions posed during an examination held in accordance with the BIA.
What this means is that while Patrick might have felt safe all these years in not disclosing assets he has received, if he tries that with the OSB during an official examination where he is under oath, well, that would be a really bad idea. And if any of his family members conspired with him to conceal his assets, well, you get the idea.
If you want to appreciate the potential trouble Patrick is in, scroll down that page and check out the case summaries of others who tried to game the system, and see how it ended for them. And keep in mind -- any fines levied by the OSB pursuant to those offences would be in addition to what Patrick owes me. Yeah, let that sink in.
In any event, the irony here is that, even owing me over $100K, Patrick could have sucked it up, accepted his situation like an adult, and found a way to resolve this long before now. Instead, he chose to be a childish, petulant, vindictive ass to the point where I (among others) have had enough of his bullshit and are now demanding that the OSB step in and deal with him, with the possible outcome that he will owe perhaps tens of thousands more in fines (not to mention potential criminal charges).
Quite simply, I've given Patrick over a decade to deal with this, and I'm done. I am dragging the OSB into this to kick his ass, and possibly the asses of any of his intellectually-challenged family members who thought it was a good idea to co-operate in concealing any of Patrick's assets over these many years.
No more Mr. Nice Guy.
P.S. During my upcoming chat with an OSB agent, I will forcefully insist that, when they contact Patrick, the first thing they do is require Patrick to update his OSB file, particularly his current financial status, residence and place of employment. I see no reason to continue spending money trying to track Patrick down if I can let the OSB do it for me, especially when they have the ability to file criminal charges against Patrick if he keeps playing games.
Patrick has made a bunch of really stupid choices in his life, but his decision to file meritless and vexatious actions just for the entertainment value might be the dumbest thing he's ever done.
8 comments:
How far back will you be allowed to go to examine Patrick's financial records?
Anon: A good question, and it's a lot further back than one might expect. One of the requirements when you file for bankruptcy is that you disclose any assets you sold or gave away to anyone *not* at what is called "arm's length" within the year prior to your filing; mostly, that means assets you transferred to friends or relatives less than 12 months before you applied for bankruptcy.
As Patrick filed in December of 2012, that tells me I have the right to see all of his financial transactions going back to December of 2011, and I have every intention of demanding to do just that, to see if he relieved himself of any assets for the sole purpose of not having to turn them over to his trustee.
Has Patrick even been filing tax returns all these years? And wouldn't he be required to disclose that he's an undischarged bankrupt when he does that? It sounds like he might be years in arrears on all sorts of things.
Anon @ 10:18 AM: Another good question -- I have no idea what Patrick's obligations would be with respect to filing annual provincial and federal tax returns. I can say with some confidence that his last update to his OSB file was in 2015, which means he is *years* behind in disclosing his employment, assets, income, address and so on, which means he is in a *ton* of trouble with the OSB.
Also, if I know Patrick, his excuse will be, "But I didn't have a trustee so I didn't know who I was supposed to report to." I'm willing to bet body parts that that is the dodge he's going to try with the OSB ... which should fail badly because he *was* told on at least three occasions what his duties were:
1) When he first filed for bankruptcy
2) When his trustee discharged himself
3) When he got his conditional discharge order (CDO)
That is an absolute minimum number of times that he was informed of his obligations under bankruptcy, so I am going to make sure he can't weasel out of this with, "Gosh, if only someone had told me!"
And I'll say this again -- however the OSB stomps on Patrick will be in addition to the money he owes me. And the OSB has the authority to take Patrick's life apart. It simply remains to be seen whether he drags any of his family members down with him.
I expect that OSB's path forward (once they actually get in contact with Mr. Ross, of course), will be to give Mr. Ross some amount of time to bring his file up to date (60 - 90 days, I imagine).
If his behaviour on other matters is a predictor of how he will conduct himself here, that deadline will lapse with nothing done, and subsequent follow-up will be met with pleas for more time because it's difficult to get the records (or some other flimsy excuse). That will go on for up to a year before the OSB gets tired of it and starts to threaten Patrick with fines and/or jail time.
... and yes, I do understand that they will have a significant amount of history attached to his file. I don't think that will shorten up their general response timeline, simply given that they are a government agency, and I doubt Patrick is the only deadbeat bankrupt on their books.
MgS: I think you might be misunderestimating the OSB's annoyance with Patrick, and my determination to increase it.
Possibly - I tend to assume that bureaucracies work within a fairly clear set of operating rules - and those tend to be fairly rigid.
I presume their first line of approach will be to ensure that he gets every opportunity to comply voluntarily.
How long that will last is perhaps a matter of how much of an ass he acts like in direct engagement. Much like your lawyer's advice to you early on in this whole escapade, I expect them to appear patient until a line is crossed.
MgS: I am speculating here, but I'm guessing that I can convince the OSB that Patrick crossed that line long ago when he openly and publicly bragged about how much fun he was having evading service and costing me money. And one way or the other, I *will* make sure he has to sit for an OSB examination under oath and under threat of perjury if he tries to lie about his assets over the last decade.
In the end, I *will* get my money -- all of it. All that remains is to see if the OSB levies additional and significant financial penalties against Patrick for his years of contemptuous non-compliance and possible non-disclosure of assets.
No more Mr. Nice Guy.
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