The SID CCAA Record

"The Rise and Fall of Ontario Landlord Robby Clark", and the Record

The Entrepreneur Tab published a piece dated April 4, 2024 under the title "Report: The Rise and Fall of Ontario Landlord Robby Clark". This page sets its statements about Robert (Robby) Clark and SID Developments beside the public record.

The short answer

The piece is labelled "Opinion" by its publisher, is credited to staff, and names no court document. It is dated April 4, 2024, two months before the Monitor's report that made the allegations later reported. Its account of the footage, the loans and the people quoted matches the CBC News article of February 9, 2024.

The Entrepreneur Tab, Apr 4, 2024; CBC News, Feb 9, 2024

What the piece says, and what the record shows

What the piece saysWhat the record shows
The firm built an 800 home portfolio "before going bankrupt".The property companies applied for protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act on January 23, 2024. A CCAA proceeding is a court-supervised restructuring, not a bankruptcy. The figure of more than 800 is the companies' sworn count of properties acquired, renovated, leased or sold since inception. At filing the companies owned 405 properties with 631 rental units, 424 of them tenanted.Endorsement of Justice Kimmel, Jan 23, 2024; Motion Record of the Applicants (Jun 20, 2024), including the affidavit of Robert Clark, Clark affidavit paras 1 and 4; Pre-Filing Report of the Proposed Monitor (Jan 2024), s.2.0 paras 3 to 4
The landlords displayed a lavish lifestyle despite the difficulties facing their company, shown in a March 2022 promotional film.The film is dated March 2022 by the piece itself. On February 24, 2022 the companies had signed an agreement to sell 223 homes. The sale closed in May 2022 for $75,850,443 and left $11.6 million for the sellers after the lenders were repaid. The companies sought court protection on January 23, 2024, about 22 months after the film was posted. The CBC article, and the dates.Fourth Report of the Monitor, redacted (Jun 11, 2024), s.4.5 para 1; Motion Record of the Applicants (Jun 20, 2024), including the affidavit of Robert Clark, Exhibit O, item A.12
The companies owed lenders $144 million.$144 million was the debt figure at filing. The Monitor's own pre-filing report put the estimated appraised value of the homes at about $173 million, based on appraisals of about 30 per cent of them. Of the $144 million, $54.2 million was promissory notes, a figure the Monitor later described as "the amount initially provided by Ms. Drage", the broker, and said had not been reconciled.Pre-Filing Report of the Proposed Monitor (Jan 2024), s.2.0 paras 3 to 4; Third Report of the Monitor (Apr 2024), s.2.0; Eleventh Report of the Monitor (Feb 20, 2025), s.2 para 3
The loans were arranged by a mortgage broker whose lending a specialist called "frightening", and the regulator was examining concerns.The piece does not report what followed. In December 2025 the broker admitted to fraud in a settlement with the Ontario Securities Commission. The Capital Markets Tribunal found that "Drage committed a large-scale fraud". In March 2026 the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario imposed $600,000 in penalties. No borrower company was a respondent, and no borrower is named in the settlement.OSC Settlement Agreement, Claire Drage et al. (Dec 16, 2025), para 52; Capital Markets Tribunal reasons, 2026 ONCMT 1 (Jan 16, 2026), para 8; FSRA announcement: $600,000 penalties (Mar 2026)
Media coverage was used to deceive lenders and to draw in more private loans.The companies did not raise the money or deal with the investors. The Ontario Securities Commission settlement records that the borrowers "had little to no communication with the Investors", and that it was the broker and her firm who solicited investors, with statements that were "false and misleading".OSC Settlement Agreement, Claire Drage et al. (Dec 16, 2025), paras 17, 39 and 40
About half of the companies' homes in Sault Ste. Marie were vacant and beyond repair, according to the mayor.Across the portfolio, 424 of 631 rental units were tenanted at filing. The Monitor told the court that the DIP loan would fund the renovation of 98 properties with 206 vacant units, and reported that every renovated property was tenanted. On the companies' sworn evidence, $748,503 of a renovation plan of about $4.1 million was provided before the Monitor stated that it did not intend to approve further renovation costs. Tenanted units rose from 424 to 456 in the first five months of the proceeding. SooToday reported on February 26, 2024 that the city had recovered $616,000 of property tax arrears through the court proceeding.Pre-Filing Report of the Proposed Monitor (Jan 2024), s.2.0 para 3; First Report of the Monitor (Jan 29, 2024), s.2.0 para 2, s.5.1 para 6(a), s.5.2; Motion Record of the Applicants (Jun 20, 2024), including the affidavit of Robert Clark, Clark affidavit para 33; Fifth Report of the Monitor (Jun 17, 2024), Appendix D, note 4; Sixth Report of the Monitor (Jul 24, 2024), s.2.0 para 2; SooToday, Feb 26, 2024
A company called Core had previously bought some of the buildings.The sale to Core closed in May 2022: 223 homes for $75,850,443. The piece does not give the price.Fourth Report of the Monitor, redacted (Jun 11, 2024), s.4.5 para 1

What the Monitor had said by then

Monitor's reports

In its First and Second Reports, both filed before the piece was published, the Monitor said the companies were acting in good faith and with due diligence.

First Report of the Monitor (Jan 29, 2024), s.7.0; Second Report of the Monitor (Mar 2024), s.6.3

Robby Clark and SID Developments · Who raised the money · What was reported, and what the record shows · Questions and answers

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