Latest news with #Martel
Vancouver Sun
09-08-2025
- Business
- Vancouver Sun
B.C. judge who green-lit $71M clawback says it's fairer to all Martel investors
Clawing back $71 million from investors paid out from a Victoria mortgage broker's $316-million Ponzi scheme 'will allow for a just and fair outcome to all investors,' says a B.C. Supreme Court judge. Madame Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick, who signed off on a court order allowing the clawback in June, released her reasons this week. She noted that while more than 930 investors have filed claims worth $316 million with PricewaterhouseCoopers, the trustee overseeing Greg Martel's bankruptcy, that firm's ability to recover Martel's assets has so far 'been minimal and is not expected to improve.' Fitzpatrick emphasized there are no allegations that any of the investors participated in the scheme or even knew Martel was perpetrating a fraud. Stay on top of the latest real estate news and home design trends. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Westcoast Homes will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'No investor here is a 'winner' in the true sense — each is a victim,' she wrote, saying the scheme 'wreaked havoc and ruin on the lives of many of the investors.' She said some of the investors managed to reap profits from the scheme 'often only by blind luck in terms of the timing of the scheme's collapse, and only by reason of Mr. Martel raising that money by perpetrating the fraud on later investors.' Fitzpatrick's ruling gave the trustee the green light in June to start reaching out to 561 of the investors to arrange the return of $71 million in fraudulent payments made from the scheme. The 561 investors are among an estimated 1,700 caught up in the scheme. Over the next month, the trustee will provide each investor affected by the ruling with a calculation of what's known as the 'clawback' funds they owe. Each will have 30 days to dispute the calculation. Those investors who do not dispute the calculation will be deemed to have received excess funds or preferential payments, and will have 45 days to pay what's owed the estate. That 45-day period may be extended by agreement with the trustee. The court had earlier dismissed an application from a group of investors to adjourn proceedings against them. The group seeking the adjournment claimed, among other things, that they had not had enough time to investigate the claims of the trustee. PricewaterhouseCoopers hopes to collect the $71 million so it can be more equitably redistributed to the broader investor group. The trustee claims the money was either excess funds or preferential payments, the result of Martel and My Mortgage Auction Corp.'s fraudulent activities. The trustee's funds-flow analysis of Martel's activities determined where more than $300 million in investor money went after it was entrusted with Martel and My Mortgage Auction — the vehicle through which Martel took investor money with the promise that funds would be used to provide short-term loans for real estate transactions and construction. The analysis, which took the better part of a year and analyzed 65,000 banking transactions involving 33 banks and credit instruments, concluded no bridge loans ever existed. Martel was, in fact, running a massive Ponzi scheme: Funds received from investors were used to pay other investors, while some of the money was used to fuel Martel's lifestyle. The funds-flow analysis showed 1,709 investors put $301 million into My Mortgage Auction Corp., and $210 million was returned to investors. It found 480 investors received $68.25 million more than they invested, while 1,229 lost $149 million. The trustee identified another 81 investors who received payments totalling $3.12 million from Martel between March and June 2023. Fitzpatrick said concerns and complaints directed at the trustee by some of the investors during the process were 'ill-conceived and unjustified.' 'By any measure, PwC's investigation has been thorough and, while the information garnered from that process has not been entirely complete or accurate, and the news has not been positive for the investors, that result is not for lack of effort by PwC,' she wrote. Martel left Canada for Thailand shortly after PwC was appointed as a trustee over his bankrupt company. In August 2023, he was deported and travelled to Dubai, U.A.E. Martel has not appeared in person since the hearings into his Ponzi scheme began and has refused to confirm his whereabouts, according to Fitzpatrick.
Montreal Gazette
07-08-2025
- Montreal Gazette
Asylum seekers found packed into U-Haul in Quebec deported to U.S.
By At least some of the 44 asylum seekers found packed into a U-Haul the night of Aug. 2 have been deported to the United States, the Canada Border Services Agency has confirmed to The Gazette. CBSA spokesperson Karine Martel declined to specify how many of the asylum seekers landed in U.S. custody, nor would she say whether any of the asylum seekers were allowed to stay in Canada and claim asylum. RCMP officers say the night of Aug. 2 they discovered the 44 migrants — who are mostly Haitian — near Stanstead, a community at the Vermont border south of Sherbrooke. The migrants were allegedly dropped off south of the border and told to walk into Canada where smugglers driving a U-Haul moving truck picked them up. Police say they transferred the migrants into CBSA custody, at which point the CBSA says most were transported to the processing centre in St-Bernard-de-Lacolle, about 100 kilometres west. Under the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the U.S., Canadian authorities can deport asylum claimants at the border back to the U.S., unless they're unaccompanied minors or have family in Canada. 'All asylum claims linked to this incident have been processed,' Martel wrote in an email Wednesday evening. 'All those who were deemed inadmissible have been removed to the United States.' Asylum seekers returned to the U.S. under the Safe Third Country Agreement are typically sent into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention. As of Aug. 5, the CBSA reports it had deported 2,766 asylum seekers to the U.S. this year for ineligibility under the agreement. Of those, 1,917 attempted to claim asylum at official ports of entry, while 849 entered Canada at unofficial crossings. 'When a person makes a claim for refugee protection at a port of entry, CBSA officers will conduct an examination — including a review — to determine if the claim is eligible for referral to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada,' Martel said. Those deemed ineligible to claim asylum are 'generally removed to the United States that same day.' While this year has seen a decrease in asylum claims across the country, claims at the St-Bernard-de-Lacolle crossing have increased significantly. By Aug. 4, 11,508 people — nearly half of the 23,467 who claimed asylum across the country this year — had made their claim at St-Bernard-de-Lacolle. By that point in 2024, 5,225 people had claimed asylum at St-Bernard-de-Lacolle, while 42,150 had claimed asylum across the country. In June, the CBSA says it installed 12 trailers at its St-Bernard-de-Lacolle facility to accommodate migrants undergoing immigration reviews. 'The current migrant influx at the port of entry is well below our processing capacity and the trailers are currently unused,' CBSA spokesperson Guillaume Bérubé said in a statement. The three suspected smugglers are facing charges and will remain detained until their next court hearing at the end of the month.
USA Today
03-08-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
'Is it worth it?': Red flags to watch with youth sports programs
USA Hockey didn't invent the line, but Ken Martel has used it when he talks about succeeding in sports. 'As many as possible for as long as possible with the best environment possible,' the organization's senior director of player and coach development told USA TODAY Sports in an interview last year. He was referring to the American Development Model program he helped install more than a decade and a half ago, when the sport was losing young players in our country. The ADM, which has become the cornerstone of USA Hockey's message, has helped bring them back to the ice in droves and, in Martel's thinking, continues to help generate world junior championship titles. 'When you have more kids playing, certainly a few more of them will turn out to be good and you'll see 'em on TV, right?' he says. USA Hockey created the ADM to help keep kids, parents and coaches engaged while, at least in theory, giving everyone a chance to organically develop to his or her full athletic potential. It starts with getting boys and girls enthused from an early age, infusing a love of competition (without a laser focus on winning) and engaging them into adulthood. USA Hockey reports 577,864 registered players (kids and adults) for 2024-25, up from 465,975 in 2008-09. 'Geography is no longer a predetermining factor in who can be good in our sport,' Martel says. USA TODAY reported Aug. 1, however, about how one NHL club has a monopoly over North Texas ice. It effectively controls the pathways by which the region's young players advance, Kenny Jacoby writes, and has reminded (and even threatened) parents they can block it at any time. 'You get so beaten down, and you see your kid get screwed over for opportunities, and you decide, 'You know what? Maybe I do have to play by their rules to get where I want to be,' ' says Kat Pierce, a hockey mom whom a Dallas Stars employee attempted to reprimand when she criticized them in a social media post. The power to decide to play a sport, and to stick with it, is ultimately the choice of our kids. As parents we have a right to speak up to a coach or organization without fear of them being penalized. We know from this story and others about the so-called 'professionalism of youth sports' that the system isn't always that simple. Here are eight red flags to watch with youth sports programs: You don't feel like you have a say with anything USA Hockey delegates much of its authority to regional affiliates. The Texas Amateur Hockey Association oversees Texas and Oklahoma. Member associations' votes are weighted by the number of players they register and, as USA TODAY reports, tilt heavily in the interests of those in Stars leagues or with teams that rent Stars ice. It's an issue with which many of us can relate, at least to some degree. Running a youth team or league is entrusted in the hands of a few – club owners or the board. All too often, it seems, they prioritize their own interests: Making a steep profit or giving their own kids All-Star slots. You should never feel you don't have power, though. Volunteer for the board, file a complaint with the league about a nepotistic coach or speak to other parents if something doesn't feel right. It probably isn't. Band together in your opposition. A board or coach can brush aside one complaint but collective one isn't as easily ignored, and it isn't good for business. Coach Steve: How do I deal with a bad coach? Here are three steps You fear if you speak up, your kid will be penalized OK, maybe it's not that simple. When Jacoby, my USA TODAY colleague, reported about the Stars' heavy influence in North Texas, he came across a number of parents hesitant to raise concerns out of fear of retaliation against their kids. One dad who coached at a Stars complex inquired about coaching at a competing rink after he felt the Stars had failed to address a safety concern. The Stars fired him when he did so, according to emails he provided, and allegedly banned his 5- and 7-year-old daughters. (A Stars employee denied banning his daughters.) No one wants to risk putting their kids' dreams, or even their playing time, in jeopardy. But think about the concern for a moment. Is being on a team where you're afraid to rock the boat really a situation you want your child to have to endure? Before you do anything, talk to your son or daughter about their experience. They might not want to be there anyway. You always have a voice in their sports journey. You fear if you leave, there will be no 'better' options Think of yourself as an investor in your team or league. Its leaders should be open to your constructive criticism on how to make it better. Don't take to social media to complain, where you risk making someone feel public embarrassment. Instead, schedule a private meeting where you can mention your concerns diplomatically. The reaction you get will give you a good indication of where you stand. If they aren't willing to consider spreading out rink fees over a larger group of teams, or giving every kid equal playing time when you're paying for a college showcase experience, for example, this might not be worth your time. No single team will make or break whether your child reaches an elite level of a sport, but a single experience might determine whether they keep playing at all. We can help. Submit your feedback here about how the corporatization of youth sports has affected you and your kids. We wrote in a line specifically for those of you who've faced retaliation or threats. You feel pressured (or are outright told) not to play other sports An internal study the NHL and NHL Players' Association conducted in 2018 found that out of the 700-plus players on rosters, 98% of them were multisport athletes as kids. 'Get out, play multiple sports,' says USA Hockey's Martel. 'Look, if your passion's not ice hockey, you're never gonna really turn out to be a great player if you don't truly love it. And if you find a passion that happens to be another sport, wonderful.' The American Development Model recommends multisport play until at least age 12. Arguments can be made to take it longer. 'I am dead set against single-sport athletes (while kids are growing up),' former football coach Urban Meyer has said. 'When my son was playing baseball I had many people tell me that he should just stop playing other sports and focus on baseball. I got in big arguments with people, and a lot of those kids that (at) nine, 10 years old were great - they blew out. They burned out, and they're not playing anymore.' Meyer said he looked at kids who played football and another sport at a high level. Brenda Frese, another national championship-winning coach, also loves recruiting basketball players who play multiple sports. 'We just see the benefits of it – you know, mentally, physical, socially, you name it,' Frese's husband, Mark Thomas, told me in an interview for a 2023 profile of the Maryland women's coach and her family. 'At an early age, teams try to take over your calendar. A key little tool I learned is that as long as you're playing multiple sports, you give yourself some leverage that they can't take over your schedule completely because you have commitments to multiple teams. Eventually, you may have some hard-line coaches." When one of the couple's twin sons played club soccer in seventh grade, Thomas recalled the coach telling parents and players: We expect you to only play soccer now and if you're not just playing soccer, then we don't want you. 'From the soccer club's end, why wouldn't you keep more kids involved?' Thomas said. 'I mean, he was never a kid who was gonna be a professional or anything like that. I didn't understand the point.' The National Athletic Trainers' Association recommends playing for one team at a time, playing a sport for less than eight months per year and at no more hours per week than your age. You can always specialize the year before high school if you are concerned about making a specific team, but playing other sports recreationally on the side will make you a better athlete. You're on a team with a primary focus of winning titles As Martel looked to reinvent American hockey, he discontinued a 12-and-under national championship. 'The only pushback we got was from a few adults that run programs; it was more about them than it was about the kids,' he says. 'Why do we need to run across the country at 12 for a championship? If you're gonna run a 12U national championship, the 10U coach starts aggregating players because we need to get them all together so that they're ready by the time they're 12. And it just starts the race to the bottom sooner.' Project Play, a national initiative of the Aspen Institute to build healthy communities through sports, surveys children. When it asks them what they like most about playing sports, having fun and playing with friends always ranks at the top and by a lot, according to Aspen Sports & Society community impact director Jon Solomon. Solomon says winning games and chasing scholarships rank lower, such as in the Washington, D.C. State of Play report. Yes, kids thrive off game situations. But instead of loading up on age-specific travel tournaments, play the 8- through 12-year-olds together, as USA Hockey suggests. Prioritize small-sided games in practice over 'boring' drills, as Martel calls them. "We do different things in that to get them to work on different technical abilities and different tactical situations," Martel says. "But kids have fun. They get to problem solve. There's autonomy to that. And you see that in our play." It costs a lot less, too. A team - or a tournament - requires you to stay at specific hotels with no flexibility We love the adventure of traveling with our kids through their sports. Hitting the road can give them exposure to top competition. It's also a prime intersection for collusion. For years, according to USA TODAY reporting, three Stars executives organized tournaments that required out-of-town participants to book minimum three-night stays at select hotels. At the same time, they ran their own for-profit company that took a cut of the revenue. After our investigation, the Stars say they will be 'loosening' the policies. Although stay-to-play arrangements remain common across youth sports, I have never encountered one over about eight years of traveling with my sons for their baseball teams. The hotels our team or a tournament recommends are always suggestions. I book at a better rate through my rewards program if I find one. We sometimes run into tournaments that are a couple of hours from home. Once the game times are announced, we might choose to return for one of the nights. Having that choice improves our quality of life, and our satisfaction with the team. The coach has a chummy relationship with a few of the other players' parents The most effective coaches maintain a cordial yet arm's length rapport with parents. They lay out the ground rules in a meeting before the season – no parent coaching from the bleachers, perhaps? – and say something to parents who violate them. Playing for close friends is inevitable when kids are younger. When they are preparing to play high school ball or competing in front of college coaches, though, there are enough distractions without having to worry about your coach favoring someone over you. You can't answer affirmatively: 'Is it worth it?' Brent Tully was a former defenseman who helped Team Canada win two world junior championships in the 1990s. He later became general manager for an elite junior hockey team in Ontario and has coached younger players. He's also a father of two athletes. He has seen first hand the long hours and travel, the tens of thousands of dollars spent, the living 'hand-to-mouth,' as Pierce, the Texas hockey mom, described in my colleague's story. All for what? 'I can't imagine parents at the end of that last year (when) their child isn't drafted,' Tully said in 2024. 'And that's the end. The disappointment of the ending, it's all too frequent. 'My oldest son, back when he was playing, they were an average to below average team. And they stayed that way, even beyond the years he had stopped playing. I knew some of the fathers pretty well. And one father, at the end of nine years of minor hockey - and he complained all the time, complained about his son's ice time, about the coaching - I remember saying to him, 'So was that all worth it?' Was that fun? All the money you spent. Your son's now gone to college, and he's working a job and you could have had him play house league, probably left with a lot less frustration. And he can still play the game his whole life at the level he's playing. ... 'Regardless of where a boy or girl plays, that should be a great experience.' Coach Steve: 10 questions athletes should consider if they play on a travel team With the right experience, his sport can be ingrained in someone from 'cradle to grave,' as USA Hockey's Martel describes. 'Hockey is played with no contact in a lot of places,' he says. 'We have 70-and-over national championships. It's really low impact and it's a lot of fun. There's people that play when they're 100. So hopefully you come back to the sport and you're involved over a life. 'You don't see that in American football. No one wants to go out and get tackled and have to go to work the next day.' Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons' baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents for two high schoolers. His column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here. Got a question for Coach Steve you want answered in a column? Email him at sborelli@
Calgary Herald
03-07-2025
- Health
- Calgary Herald
Mom who suffered stroke after giving birth emerges from 18-day coma
A Calgary mother of three who suffered a severe stroke after giving birth has come out of a coma, her husband said Thursday. Article content Iffat Shakti, 28, suffered a hemorrhagic stroke June 12, a week after the birth of daughter Julia Ameera, then experienced a second stroke and remained in a coma for the rest of the month. Article content Article content But three days ago, the woman opened her eyes, though remains unresponsive, said husband Marco Martel. Article content Article content Article content That condition is a sign of brain damage from the two strokes, said Martel, who's been at his wife's side at the Foothills Medical Centre daily. Article content 'That's what worries me the most – when the brain swelling goes down we'll know the extent of the damage to her brain,' he said. Article content Physicians, he said, have told him his wife still might not survive her ordeal and to 'prepare for the worst.' Article content But the man said he's placed his faith in a higher power, who's seems to want his wife to survive her ordeal, which was brought on by her high blood pressure. Article content But he's also been relying on the generosity of family, friends and strangers who have so far pledged about $19,500 in donations at a GoFundMe page set up to cover the family's expenses. Article content Article content 'When she comes out of the hospital, we know she'll have special needs like a bed and wheelchair,' said Martel. Article content His family will also need support as he's been unable to tend to their property rental business while he takes care of their new daughter, two young boys and spends time at the hospital, he said. Article content The auto body detailer says he's paying loans on three rental properties, and his absence makes it difficult to find renters to pay for them. Article content Shakti, he said, handled the financial end of the business, adding he's slowly learning that task. Article content 'I've got a lot on my plate,' he said. Article content 'I just want to bring her home but the best care she'll get is in the hospital.' Article content Shakti, who came to Canada from her native Bangladesh in 2018, was set to take her Canadian citizenship exam last month when she suffered her strokes. Article content
Ottawa Citizen
01-07-2025
- Health
- Ottawa Citizen
Saving the precious resource of blood during major liver surgery
Article content Between a quarter to a third of people having major liver surgery, often due to cancer, will need a blood transfusion. Now, imagine being able to reduce the need for this type of transfusion and the impact it would have on a global scale. This has been a vision for Dr. Guillaume Martel, a surgeon and scientist, who holds the donor-funded Arnie Vered Family Chair in Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Research at The Ottawa Hospital and University of Ottawa. Article content Article content When Dr. Martel was training as a fellow in Montreal, he witnessed a technique for liver surgery that was new to him. It reduces the amount of blood loss during a liver operation, and the idea both fascinated and intrigued him. But when he did some digging, the young doctor realized there wasn't much background on the technique and there were no clinical trials — no concrete evidence to prove its value. Article content When he arrived at The Ottawa Hospital, it became a personal mission to learn more about the technique, known as hypovolemic phlebotomy, where a controlled amount of blood is removed from the patient before liver surgery, then re-infused back into the patient afterward. Once he and his team, including anesthetist Dr. Chris Wherrett, perfected the technique, they decided to do their own research, in order to have concrete evidence showing the impact of this practice-changing medicine. Article content Article content Often donations from the community help get the early phase research projects off the ground, attracting large-scale funding through grants to launch in-depth investigations. Article content Once Dr. Martel's team had tested the safety and feasibility of the technique in major liver surgery as part of a Phase 1 trial at the hospital, they launched the largest trial of its kind, thanks to funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Article content Over five years, ending in 2023, 446 people were recruited at four Canadian hospitals, including The Ottawa Hospital, to participate. 'Once under anesthetic, patients were randomly selected to receive either hypovolemic phlebotomy, to decrease blood transfusions, or to receive usual care,' explains Dr. Martel.
