A 55-year-old businessman from Ottawa said he burned $1 million in cash to keep it away from his ex-wife.
Bruce McConville, the businessman, has long defied a court order to file an affidavit about the state of his finances, which means he is unable to figure out what he owes in child and spousal results.
As a result of his defiance, he did not pay anything to his ex-wife.
He is also accused of ignoring a Superior Court Order to pay the court $300,000 as security and he has defied a further court order telling him not to sell his properties.
Bruce, the businessman, appeared in court at a contempt motion on January 28, 2020, where he told Superior Court Justice Kevin Phillips that he sold both properties and businesses before withdrawing a total of $1, 050,000 CAD in cash through 25 withdrawals from six different bank accounts.
He said he had the ATM receipts to prove he withdrew the cash, but said he didn’t have the money anymore.
Asking why he no longer had the $1 Million in cash, Bruce said: “I destroyed it.”
Bruce, the businessman, said he destroyed a total of $1,039,000 CAD in 2 separate bonfires on September 23 and December 15.
Bruce said he destroyed $743,000 on September 23, and $296,000 on December 15.
Bruce said he had no evidence of the bonfires as he did not film the ordeal and there were no witnesses at the scenes at that time.
The things Bruce was so weird that Justice Phillips said that his claims were too hard to believe.
Bruce said he burned the money, which was 1,039,000 CAD, out of frustration with the divorce proceedings.
He added, “I am not a person that is extremely materialistic. A little goes a long way. I have always been frugal. That’s why my business lasted for 31 years.”
The court was not convinced by the claims of Bruce and accused him of “clearly and deliberately [setting] out to thwart the court and the proper administration of justice.”
The court ended up sentencing Bruce to 30 days in jail and warned him that he would face penal consequence if he failed to tell the truth in court filings.
After serving the 30 days in jail, Bruce will be facing severe financial penalties for every day if he doesn’t comply with court orders to fill a full and honest account of his financial affairs, revealing where the money that he withdrew went.
He was also asked to pay $2,000 per day to his ex-wife.
While talking to Bruce, Justice Phillips said: “I don’t believe you. I don’t trust you. I don’t think you’re honest. I urge you to get in compliance because that $2,000 a day is going to run up such that you lose everything.”