THE JET-SET LIFESTYLE OF ONE OF CANADA’S RICHEST BUSINESSMEN HAS SHRUNK TO ALMOST NOTHING THROUGH THE RAVAGES OF DEMENTIA AND CHRONIC PAIN. MICHAEL DEGROOTE’S COURT BATTLE TO STAY IN CONTROL.
ONE OF CANADA’S TOP BUSINESSMEN STRUGGLES THROUGH THE RAVAGES OF DEMENTIA, CHRONIC PAIN
Lawyers and doctors of Michael G. DeGroote, one of Canada’s wealthiest businessmen and most generous philanthropists, say he is mentally unfit and no longer capable of representing himself in court.
The onset of dementia, intense chronic pain and long-term ailments chronicled in medical documents present a tragic decline for the strong-willed man who built a billion-dollar empire from nothing, was awarded the Order of Canada and has university faculties and school buildings named after him.
Once a lion of industry — in trucking, waste management and school buses — he has lost as much as $200 million in poor business deals, two-bit scams and frauds since 2007, court documents claim.
The former jet-setter lifestyle of the 83-year-old entrepreneur has shrunk to almost nothing through the ravages of dementia and chronic pain, according to medical records filed in court as part of a legal fight over a $112-million casino operation that devolved into accusations of Mafia infiltration, death threats and fraud.
Despite consultations and procedures by doctors around the world, DeGroote remains in intense pain, court heard.
He has tried clinical trials in the United States, acupuncture in China, stem cell treatment in Russia, medical marijuana, other procedures in Belgium and the Caribbean, and repeated visits with doctors at McMaster University Medical Centre, the Hamilton, Ont., hospital which hosts the medical school bearing his name.
Degroote’s $105-million donation in 2003 was the largest cash gift in Canadian history at the time.
None of his treatments have provided lasting relief.
He was described as waking at 7 a.m. most days and sitting or lying down for much of the day smoking and watching Fox News
when not attending therapy or medical appointments. He usually eats in the same restaurant because they let him smoke there.
He gave up his yacht because the vibrations aboard it exacerbated his pain, and he dislikes flying on his private jet for the same reason. His relationship with a “lady friend,” as he described her, was a rare source of joy, the filings say.
The once astute businessman has fallen prey to telephone, postal and email scams, according to interviews with many of the people closest to DeGroote, including two of his four children, and noted in court filings.
In one instance, he received a phone call directing him to pay upfront money to collect a big payout at a drugstore.
Even though DeGroote wasn’t supposed to drive, his Bentley was found wedged in a planter at a Florida mall after he apparently crashed trying to get to the drugstore, according to filings made on his behalf.
His nurses said they limit his ability to make spontaneous purchases while watching late-night TV.
He put his plumber in charge of a large real estate company that failed. Hucksters in Panama talked him into making a $1-million donation to an orphanage that appears to be a scam.
Lawyers representing DeGroote in the lengthy and difficult Caribbean casino litigation recently moved to appoint a litigation guardian to act on DeGroote’s behalf because of his decline.
Lawyers for one of the defendant groups sought to cross-examine the proposed guardian and the matter has been adjourned.
Sam Rogers, one of DeGroote’s lawyers at McCarthy Tétrault, declined to
comment on the guardianship motion.
The legal dispute at issue started in 2012 when DeGroote filed a lawsuit claiming he is the victim of an almost $112 million fraud. He claims he lent the money to a company controlled by three Toronto-area men — two brothers, Antonio and Francesco Carbone, and Andrew Pajak — to fund gambling enterprises in the Caribbean.
The partnership went horribly awry.
DeGroote seeks $200 million in damages for fraud and breach of trust. The affair came under public scrutiny when the National Post and other media published accounts of the deal that had degenerated into threats, violence, arrests and allegations of Mafia interference.
Security video from inside Dream Casino, the Dominican Republic casino that the business partners operated, show Vito Rizzuto, the Godfather of the Mafia in Montreal, being given a tour of the gaming floor in 2013 by Alex Visser, who DeGroote had previously paid.
Rizzuto died of cancer shortly after. (A lawyer for DeGroote previously told the Post that DeGroote had no association with Rizzuto.)
In 2015, Antonio Carbone, of Woodridge, Ont., one of the defendants in DeGroote’s lawsuits, was arrested in the DR and charged after a firebomb destroyed the car of a lawyer working as an administrator for the troubled casino firm.
Carbone has been held in pretrial detention since.
Last summer, DeGroote’s lawyers retained Dr. Hy Bloom, a forensic psychiatrist, to conduct a capacity assessment. Bloom asked Dr. Angela Carter, a neuropsychologist, to also assess DeGroote.
Carter’s assessment in January concluded that DeGroote’s “cognitive impairments are significant,” and “impinge on his ability to engage in tasks requiring any measure of cognitive focus.”
Bloom’s assessment in March noted DeGroote’s medical history adds to his problems, which include persistent pain as a result of a stroke in 2001; high-dose pain medications; multiple operations, including for metastatic melanoma (skin cancer that has spread to other parts of his body) and deep brain stimulation.
DeGroote could not recall key dates in his life and could not name the U.S. president; he knew the name of the prime minister but could not recall his predecessor. DeGroote realizes his lapses and said it “drives him crazy,” the report says.
In the motion to appoint a litigation guardian, DeGroote’s lawyers claim: “Mr. DeGroote is mentally incapable of instructing counsel as a result of his medical condition.”
His lawyers asked that James Alexander Watt, DeGroote’s chief of staff, be appointed litigation guardian.
Watt is a Canadian citizen who lives in Bermuda. A chartered financial analyst, he started working with DeGroote in 1991 and since 2007 has been DeGroote’s most senior adviser, Watt said in an affidavit filed in court.
The lawyer for the Carbone brothers did not return phone messages for comment. Morris Cooper, representing various Dream casino corporations, said he did not oppose the motion and had nothing more to add.
Ronald Flom, a lawyer representing Pajak, said he did not oppose the motion once he was assured DeGroote’s lawyers would not use the guardianship as a reason to not make the businessman available as a witness at future proceedings.
“Mr. DeGroote has done wonderful things in his life, I don’t think anyone disputes that, and it is unfortunate he is not well,” said Flom.