OTTAWA — Another company is now alleging it was defrauded by Liberal minister Randy Boissonnault’s former business partner, Stephen Anderson, who it says leveraged the employment minister’s name to legitimize a “fraudulent scheme.”
In an affidavit dated Nov. 5, Michael R. Weber, the lawyer for California-based medical supply distribution company 4M Medical, said the company Boissonnault co-owned with Anderson took US$250,000 in a deposit for medical gloves that were never delivered.
Boissonnault and Anderson had co-founded Global Health Imports (GHI) in the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic as a PPE distributor. When Boissonnault was elected in the fall 2021 and appointed to cabinet, he was required to cease involvement in GHI’s operations, although he continued to co-own it.
The 4M affidavit was filed in support of a lawsuit by another company, the Ghaoui Group, which alleges Anderson and two other GHI employees made off with a US$500,000 deposit in 2022 for personal equipment that was never delivered.
Global News has reported there have been at least a half-dozen lawsuits against GHI since it was founded in early 2020.
Weber’s affidavit alleges a similar modus operandi by Anderson and GHI against 4M Medical that resulted in a US$250,000 loss. None of the allegations by Ghaoui or 4M have been tested in court.
In a statement, Boissonnault’s spokesperson Alice Hansen said the minister was neither involved nor aware of GHI’s business dealings with 4M because he ceased to have “any role with operations of GHI” after he was elected.
“The allegation that Mr. Anderson was using the Minister’s name, without his permission and after he had ceased being involved in the work of the company, is very disturbing. If Mr. Anderson was in fact doing so he should come tell the truth and come clean with the public,” Hansen said in response to questions from the National Post.
On social media, Boissonnault said that going into business with Anderson was “an error of judgment.”
Parliament is currently investigation questions over communications by Anderson referring to business dealings with someone named “Randy” after Boissonnault was appointed to cabinet.
Weber’s affidavit describes that 4M agreed to buy 100,000 boxes of nitrile gloves from GHI on Aug. 18, 2022. The deal would later require that 4M pay a US$250,000 deposit to secure the shipment.
In the weeks following the agreement, Weber says Anderson grew “increasingly frustrated” with perceived delays in obtaining 4M’s deposit and used numerous pressure tactics to “induce the sending of the funds.”
That included warning that his business partners, including “Randy,” were getting impatient and threatening to cancel the deal and sell the gloves to another company, according to transcripts of messages included in the affidavit.
“Anderson would threaten the loss of the deal and the frustration of his business partners and team, namely … ‘Randy’ whom Anderson said was his business partner and member of the Canadian Parliament, who I later discovered was Randy Boissonnault,” the affidavit alleges.
In an interview with National Post, Weber said he never met nor spoke to Boissonnault during his dealings with GHI. But he said Anderson made it clear that “Randy” was “involved in Parliament” and frequently mentioned Boissonnault’s name to boost the company’s credibility.
“The understanding was that the particular texts … suggested that there was approval power on our deal with somebody named Randy,” Weber said.
“Obviously, claiming what he claimed about Randy being at the government brings the guard down,” he added. Anderson “clearly leveraged off of it,” he said. However, Weber said he does not know how much Boissonnault was actually involved in GHI’s dealings.
In his affidavit, Weber claimed the pressure tactics GHI and Anderson used on him and 4M were the same allegedly used with Ghaoui Group.
On Oct. 17, 2022, Weber says that 4M’s US$250,000 deposit was sent to GHI. But he claims GHI never delivered the gloves, despite relentless questions and pressure from 4M.
In January 2023, the affidavit claims 4M and GHI agreed to terminate the deal and Anderson’s company would return the deposit within 72 hours.
Weber says that never happened, dealing a significant blow to 4M and himself.
“Despite our best efforts, we have been unable to recover any amount from GHI,” he swore in the affidavit. “Further, the investor who supplied the $250,000 deposit has sued me for lost principal plus interest. Needless to say, Anderson’s fraudulent behavior has cost me and my family significant time plus the cost to repay his theft and lost opportunities associated therewith.”
“I firmly believe that Stephen Anderson … was running a fraudulent scheme, wherein he would induce prospective purchasers to provide a large deposit for a quantity of goods he had no means or intention of providing and that he would ultimately convert the Deposit to his personal ends.”
Neither Anderson nor his counsel responded to detailed questions from National Post by email.
On Thursday, Conservatives tabled a motion to have Boissonnault testify again before the committee to answer for the new allegations in the Weber affidavit.
National Post also revealed Thursday that GHI had twice bid for federal government medical-supply contracts in 2022 while declaring itself “a wholly owned Indigenous and LGBTQ Company” and “Aboriginal.”
On Friday, Boissonault issued a statement saying he had never authorized Anderson to make “false representations” of GHI as Indigenous-owned, and clarified that does not have Aboriginal status.
The minister said he “surrendered” his shares in GHI this summer.
National Post
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