The $1 Million, in Context
The Monitor's June 11, 2024 report in the SID Developments CCAA says that "in excess of $1 million" was used for expenses that "appear personal in nature". News coverage of Robert (Robby) Clark led with that finding. This page sets the figure beside other figures in the same court record.
The Monitor's figure for spending that "appear[s] personal in nature" is "in excess of $1 million", over five years. In April and May 2024 alone the Monitor and its counsel billed $1.58 million. The report that contains the figure was unaudited, the court did not approve it, and no court has found that Mr. Clark or the companies misappropriated funds.
The report's wording is "in excess of $1 million"; the chart uses $1 million. The five years run from 2019 to January 2024. The $24.7 million of debt service is what passed through the companies' bank accounts; it does not include mortgages and promissory notes repaid to lenders out of the 2022 sale. Ratios on this page are this site's arithmetic.
Source: Fourth Report of the Monitor, redacted (Jun 11, 2024), s.2.1 para 3, s.2.5 para 1 and s.4.5 para 1; Sixth Report of the Monitor (Jul 24, 2024), s.7.0 para 1; Third Report of the Monitor (Apr 2024), s.9.0; Fifteenth Report of the Monitor (Jul 21, 2026), s.9.0; Motion Record of the Applicants (Jun 20, 2024), including the affidavit of Robert Clark, Exhibit O, item A.12
The figure, set beside the record
| Compared with | What the record shows | How the $1 million compares |
|---|---|---|
| Everything the Monitor reviewed | $69.7 million of disbursements over five years | The $1 million is 1.4 per cent of it. The review counts only what passed through the companies' bank accounts. About $81.5 million of mortgage proceeds went directly to the real estate lawyers and is not in it.Fourth Report of the Monitor, redacted (Jun 11, 2024), s.2.1 para 3 and s.2.5 para 1 |
| What the companies paid their lenders | $24.7 million of debt service through the companies' bank accounts over the same five years | More than twenty-four times the figure. It does not include the mortgages and promissory notes repaid to lenders out of the 2022 sale. The Monitor's report puts the promissory notes repaid on that sale at $11,082,375.97.Fourth Report of the Monitor, redacted (Jun 11, 2024), s.2.5 para 1 and s.4.5 para 5 |
| The 2022 sale | 223 homes sold for $75,850,443 in May 2022 | The $1 million is about 1.3 per cent of the sale price. After the lenders were repaid, the vendors' counsel's trust ledger shows $11.6 million for all of the sellers, more than eleven times the figure.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 Monitor and its counsel, two months | $1.58 million billed for April and May 2024, before tax | More in two months than the figure covers over five years.Sixth Report of the Monitor (Jul 24, 2024), s.7.0 para 1 and fee affidavit of counsel, para 2 |
| The Monitor and its counsel, one month | June 2024: $737,398.86 for counsel and $204,575.13 for the Monitor, with tax | About $942,000 for two firms in the month of the report and the change of control.Seventh Report of the Monitor (Aug 23, 2024), professional fees section, para 2, and the June 2024 invoices in the fee affidavits |
| All professionals, early in the case | $3.5 million paid by June 14, 2024, and a further $1.35 million in the next 38 days | The companies themselves paid $756,000 in professional fees over the five years the Monitor reviewed.Fifth Report of the Monitor (Jun 17, 2024), s.6.0; Sixth Report of the Monitor (Jul 24, 2024), s.4.0; Fourth Report of the Monitor, redacted (Jun 11, 2024), s.2.5 para 1 |
| All professionals, a typical month | $1.0 million to $1.1 million a month for all firms, through May 31, 2024 | About as much in one month as the figure covers over five years.Fifth Report of the Monitor (Jun 17, 2024), s.6.0; Sixth Report of the Monitor (Jul 24, 2024), s.4.0 |
| All professionals, to date | $10.09 million of professional fees paid from the Monitor's account to July 2, 2026 | About ten times the figure. No filing separates the cost of the investigation.Fifteenth Report of the Monitor (Jul 21, 2026), s.9.0 |
What the report itself says
The same report's conclusion states: "The funds that were used to purchase and renovate the Applicants' properties do not appear to have been used for an improper purpose." The same paragraph goes on to allege that significant funds were regularly diverted to the principals and their corporations.
The report states that the Monitor "has not audited, or otherwise attempted to verify" the financial information, and it accepts that purchases at Home Depot and from contractors "may be legitimate business expenses".
Its conclusion also states: "The Monitor accepts that some payments to the Principals may have been justified as reimbursement for the Principals' use of personal credit cards to make bona fide business purchases for the Applicants."
The response
The companies' filed response is that about $4.4 million of about $6 million paid to the principals reimbursed business expenses charged to personal cards, that card statements and a sample of receipts were delivered to the Monitor, and that management generally took no salary.
Their evidence is that the travel and retreat expenses were generally incurred when the companies anticipated closing the 2022 sale, had significant equity and were current on substantially all interest.
The Globe and Mail reported Mr. Clark's response, from the court filings, that the discretionary spending was "a small fraction of the overall money loaned and less than KSV spent investigating it". The same article states: "None of the allegations of wrongdoing made in court filings have been proven in court." CBC News reported that the companies' spokesperson said "the vast majority of these payments are actually reimbursements for business expenses such as renovations and utilities", and that the companies "vigorously dispute" the report.
Whether it was tested
On June 24, 2024 the court held that the companies "are entitled to test the evidence put against them" by cross-examination. The motions were resolved on consent the next day. The endorsement records that no approval of the Fourth Report was sought.
The response, item by item · The June 2024 report · Cost of the CCAA · The Core Sale · Questions and answers
- The Monitor's wording is "in excess of $1 million". It is a floor, not a total. Fourth Report of the Monitor, redacted (Jun 11, 2024), s.2.1 para 3
- The report's larger allegation concerns payments to the principals and related companies, which its own table puts at a net $13,426,637. The $1 million is the part it describes as personal. Fourth Report of the Monitor, redacted (Jun 11, 2024), s.2.5 paras 1 and 2 and Appendix 2
- Of the $11.6 million the 2022 sale left for the sellers, $2.7 million was due to the companies in the proceeding. The Monitor's report says the sale proceeds were depleted by about November 2022. Motion Record of the Applicants (Jun 20, 2024), including the affidavit of Robert Clark, Exhibit O, item A.12; Fourth Report of the Monitor, redacted (Jun 11, 2024), s.5.3.2 para 9
- The Monitor's report describes the companies' books and records as incomplete. The Globe and Mail reported that, as of June 23, 2024, the directors had not provided receipts for the expenses. Fourth Report of the Monitor, redacted (Jun 11, 2024), s.2.3; The Globe and Mail, Jul 27, 2024