Judge axes $2 sale of Drabinsky home
A deeply indebted former theatre mogul transferred ownership of the family home to his wife to put the multimilliondollar property out of reach of his creditors, an Ontario judge has ruled.
In ruling against Garth Drabinsky and Ann Elizabeth Winford-Drabinsky, the court found the transaction bore many “badges of fraud” and couldn’t stand.
“The transaction is replete with the badges of this kind of surreptitious creditor-proofing,” Superior Court Justice Ed Morgan said in his ruling.
“Mr. Drabinsky offers no other explanation that makes sense.”
Evidence was that the Drabinskys were co-owners of the property in Toronto’s tony Forest Hill South neighbourhood until Sept. 11, 2015, when Winford-Drabinsky paid $2 to become sole owner of the property, appraised at $2.63 million.
Drabinsky, the once high-flying impresario who served prison time for fraud, was drowning in red ink at the time.
One of his creditors was lawyer Philip Anisman, whom Drabinsky still owes more than $61,000 for legal work done six years ago when the former Livent Inc. executive was embroiled in enforcement action by the Ontario Securities Commission.
Anisman, who has been pursuing Drabinsky for payment for years, turned to the courts last May after belatedly discovering the 2015 house transaction.
Drabinsky conceded the transfer effectively put the home beyond the reach of his creditors.
However, he also argued he had not actually turned his mind to the impact on them.
In his decision, Morgan said the courts have over the years developed signs of fraudulent intent, such as whether the ownership transfer was done in secret.
Many of those were present in this case, the judge said.