National Post (National Edition)
THE SOCIETY CRASHER
HOW ONE MAN HAS BEEN LIVING TORONTO’S HIGH LIFE — ALLEGEDLY WITHOUT PAYING HIS WAY
The floor in the lobby of the National Club in Toronto is mosaicked with hundreds of little tiles laid by hand a century ago. It leads to a staircase, passing by a fireside lounge, up to wallpapered boardrooms, dining rooms, a rooftop patio and a suite where Princess Anne once stayed.
At a desk tucked discreetly to one side of the lobby an attendant has special instructions to watch out for a 62-year-old man with wispy white hair and a moustache. Wearing a suit and tie, he would be hard to pick out from regular members, but James Francis Regan has form.
It seems the gates to the high life in Toronto — front desks and concierges — can be permeable to a bespectacled older gentleman with a briefcase and a story. According to the accusations, Regan has taken advantage of that sweet spot, where good manners and an aversion to attention have allowed him to operate relatively unscathed for at least a decade, leaving a trail of allegedly unpaid bills, unreturned luxury cars and tens of thousands of dollars in rent arrears at upscale apartments.
Although the National Post could not confirm a source of income, Regan has lived for years in some of the city’s most moneyed areas without, allegedly, paying his way. His latest home is a red-brick house on Avenue Road in the upscale Yorkville neighbourhood, where, this week, his landlord became the third to go through the arduous process of evicting him.
He has allegedly found his way into the Oakville Club, the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club and other exclusive clubs, without paying the exorbitant fees or undergoing the onerous vetting process to become a member. He’s “well-known” by Toronto police, spokesman Mark Pugash said. And he has got close enough to play- ers, coaches and executives in the Maple Leafs organization that he is now officially banned from the Air Canada Centre.
For his part, Regan says he’s trying to clear his name, calling the accusations “frivolous and vexatious.” For his brother Danny, watching from their hometown in New Brunswick, Regan is gripped by delusions, determined to be part of high society and headed toward a “very sudden, sad day.”
Five years ago, Regan walked into the National Club and introduced himself as a visiting member of an affiliate club, looking to spend a few nights in one of its guest suites, general manager Bill Morari recalled.
The National Club forwarded Regan’s bill to his socalled home club, only to be told the man was no longer a member in good standing.
“He stung us for a few hundred bucks,” Morari said.
It was the last of several interactions between the National Club and Regan, dating back to 2007. Now, all visiting members must present a letter of introduction from their home club, and the attendant on duty in front lobby is under orders to remove Regan from the property.
Terry Finlay thought Regan was fresh from a divorce. He was in a rush to furnish an entire waterfront condo. On New Year’s Day 2015, Regan found Finlay alone in his vintage furniture shop in Toronto’s Rosedale neighbourhood.
“He looked like the kind of client that I generally deal with,” Finlay said, except Regan was not as particular as the others.
“This guy wanted anything that was in stock and readily available,” he said. No wonder, because when Finlay arrived to deliver the furniture at the Lakeshore Boulevard condo, he found only a mattress with a sleeping bag on top of it in the bedroom.
He supplied Regan with $16,286 in furniture.
“We did all kinds of extra stuff,” Finlay said. “We got his TV going for him and we hung his pictures.”
Regan arranged to pay in instalments, starting with a deposit cheque to be handed over on delivery.
“Of course, he didn’t have a cheque,” Finlay said. “After three or four weeks of chasing him, I realized that I’d been taken.”
Regan eventually delivered post-dated cheques from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which couldn’t be cashed.
Then there are the cars. In 2004, Regan was convicted of stealing a Jeep Cherokee from a dealership and fined $500. Again, in 2008, he was charged with theft for taking a Mercedes-Benz from a Toronto dealership and failing to return it. That charge was withdrawn.
This past summer at the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club, members were watching Canadian Milos Raonic in the Wimbledon final on television. One of them approached club staff to report that a man with them was “acting oddly and saying strange stuff,” said Larry Montpetit, the club’s general manager.
Regan had somehow got past the locked front door without a key pass, and was “acting and socializing like he was one of the members.”
Other clubs to have encountered Regan include the Oakville Club and the Albany Club, where he boasted of knowing members, all public figures.
“I checked with the people who he had mentioned,” said Christian Diotte, the Albany’s general manager, “and they didn’t know of him.”
I DON’T REMEMBER WHEN, BUT I’M SURE I CAME ACROSS (REGAN) DURING MY INVOLVEMENT IN POLITICS AND THE TORY PARTY. HE TALKS A BLUE STREAK AND IF YOU DON’T LISTEN CAREFULLY, HE SEEMS REASONABLY PLAUSIBLE. — RETIRED CANADIAN SENATOR MICHAEL MEIGHEN
Other public figures have heard of him, though. Retired Canadian senator Michael Meighen said Regan has visited him at his Toronto office and home unannounced.
“I don’t remember when, but I’m sure I came across him during my involvement in politics and the Tory party,” Meighen said. “He talks a blue streak and if you don’t listen carefully, he seems reasonably plausible.”
Executives at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment have had similar experiences, sources confirmed. Regan allegedly bothered players, coaches, staff and board members, including chairman Larry Tanenbaum.
“He had a story for everyone and he sounded very credible, but none of it was ever true,” said a source who dealt with him.
In a brief interview this month, Regan denied being banned from the Air Canada Centre and said accusations of unpaid rent, furniture and bills at private clubs are inaccurate. He declined to discuss any of the allegations further.
“These are ongoing matters that we are trying to find a remedy to,” he said. “I don’t want to speak disrespectfully of any of the parties involved.”
In Bathurst, a seaside city of 12,000 in northeastern New Brunswick, Danny Regan occasionally gets a photo from his little brother James in Toronto, showing him sitting with Maple Leafs players or at expensive seats at the Rogers Centre watching the Blue Jays.
“He always wanted me to think that he’s doing well,” he said.
James Regan was the youngest of four children, the son of Francis Regan who worked at the local pulp mill for 39 years.
“I thought he had a great life in Bathurst,” Danny said. “I mean, he was top of his class. He was a hockey player for the local team. He was well liked ... he sort of fit in.”
Regan left for the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, and received a bachelor of education degree. He married soon after graduating and the couple lived in Halifax briefly before they divorced, Danny said.
In the early 1990s, James Regan worked briefly as a supply teacher in the Toronto area, Toronto District School Board spokesman Ryan Bird confirmed.
On his LinkedIn page, Regan purports to be an independent sports professional, mediator, arbitrator, adviser, agent and educator. Hockey Canada has no record of him and his licence with the Ontario College of Teachers has been suspended since 2006, pending “completion of courses related to the new Ontario curriculum.”
“Jimmy should have probably stayed in the Maritimes,” said his brother. “What happened is, in my opinion, he went up to Toronto and you know, us Bathurst guys, some of us are not conditioned for the big city. We weren’t born into it, we were born into a small little town.”
Danny Regan last saw his brother in 2008 after their father died and James went back to Bathurst for the funeral. He didn’t have a “normal composure,” Danny said. “My two sons both came up to me and said, ‘What’s wrong with Jimmy?’
“I always said he was delusionary, There was always an issue. There was always a problem. There was always something, to a point where I said, ‘ Don’t bother me anymore. You’re not well. Try and do something about it.’ But he doesn’t believe that.”
This month, Regan was in Ontario provincial court for a hearing about a peace bond that would require him to keep his distance from his current landlord, Robin Ennis, who alleges Regan twice physically threatened her.
According to Ennis, who works in Toronto’s real estate industry, Regan had agreed to give references, proof of insurance and $5,000 deposit before moving in. On Canada Day, he said he just needed to access the apartment briefly to store “valuable artwork.” Instead, he moved in and has yet to pay a single month’s rent.
Last week, the Landlord and Tenant Board ordered Regan evicted unless he pays the $10,170 he owes Ennis by Oct. 24.
“I’m fed up,” she said.