The non-Indigenous creator of the Gen7 Fuel brand of discount gas stations has been smacked with a court-ordered freezing of his worldwide assets amid accusations of fraud and misrepresentation that have been leveled against him during insolvency proceedings.
The order handed down in Ontario Superior Court last month is yet another chapter in the ongoing saga of Glenn Page, who has been accused of misappropriating millions of dollars from Original Traders Energy (OTE) while he was president of the Indigenous fuel supplier to build an on-reserve chain of discount gas stations in Ontario, leaving the Six Nations-based company in financial disarray. OTE was granted protection from creditors in January 2023 under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), a federal law allowing insolvent corporations to restructure their business and financial affairs.
Court documents from insolvency proceedings show that OTE owes more than $310 million in unpaid fuel and excise taxes to the Ministry of Finance and Canada Revenue Agency, in addition to more than $40 million owing to a lengthy list of creditors.
While none of the allegations against Page and his associates have been tested in court, KPMG Inc. — the court-appointed monitor overseeing OTE’s insolvency proceedings — believed the move to freeze all of Page’s assets was justified due to its concerns over fraudulent activities alleged to have taken place while Page was responsible for OTE’s financial records.
Many of the claims related to Page’s dealings with the Indigenous-led bulk fuel supplier initially surfaced in 2022 when OTE co-founders Scott and Miles Hill launched a multi-million dollar civil suit against Page and his associates, alleging they stole millions of dollars from them in order to build the Gen7 Fuel brand in First Nations across Ontario while enjoying a lavish lifestyle on their company's dime.
Launched in 2019, Gen7 Fuel now operates five gas stations in First Nations across Ontario — including Nipissing First Nation outside of North Bay and Batchewana First Nation outside of Sault Ste. Marie — in partnership with local franchisees. Four other gas stations have either folded or broken off its relationship with the Gen7 Fuel brand since SooToday first reported on the multi-million dollar lawsuit against the founders and associates of the discount gas station chain.
Over the course of CCAA proceedings, KPMG has alleged that both Page and his wife, Mandy Cox, made a number of personal expenditures using OTE funds, without formal approvals, that were claimed to have been Page’s share of equity distributions.
The monitor also discovered that ownership of the USD$3.6-million yacht originally named ‘Cuz We Can,’ allegedly purchased by Page and Cox with misappropriated funds, was transferred — without the court’s knowledge — to two different offshore companies owned by Page five months prior to the court freezing the sale and relocation of the vessel last year.
KPMG also expressed concern after Page and Cox attempted to sell their yacht while a court hearing related to the freezing of the sale of the yacht was being heard. At the time of the hearing, legal counsel for OTE informed the court it had been advised the yacht had recently left port in Florida and “was believed to be bound for the Bahamas.” The yacht is currently under the monitor’s control and is undergoing a sales process expected to recover up to USD$3.2 million.
Further concern was also raised by both the monitor and the court over fractional interests in private jets that were allegedly paid for by one of Page’s numbered companies with the help of an estimated $9 million in OTE funds, in addition to alleged misrepresentations made to RBC by Page over OTE funds being used to purchase appliances for Page and Cox’s home in St. Lucia.
In her endorsement of the court-ordered freezing of Page’s assets, Ontario Superior Court Justice Jessica Kimmel said Page’s answers to concerns that funds allegedly paid from OTE for Page and Cox’s personal benefit have remained the same throughout CCAA proceedings. “He says they were all legitimate distributions to him, despite the absence of corporate and accounting records to back this up,” Kimmel wrote.
Justice Kimmel added that it was “beyond doubt” that OTE financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2021 provided to OTE’s bank were “entirely falsified,” a fact which Page admitted to when cross-examined in court. Page has claimed this was done without his knowledge by an unnamed accounting clerk.
“Page acknowledges that he was the one responsible for the financial books, records and accounting for the OTE Group and offers no possible reason for why an accounting clerk would falsify financial statements for the company,” wrote Justice Jimmel in the endorsement. “It is entirely implausible that Page was not involved in, or at least aware of, this fraud.”
Page and Cox bucked against the freezing of the worldwide assets, arguing there is no real risk they will dissipate or move assets due to their willingness to have $13 million worth of their assets — including the yacht, private jet interests and proceeds from the sale of their Waterdown, Ont. home — frozen via court order last year.
For her part, Cox has claimed she had no involvement in OTE’s bookkeeping or financial arrangements with respect to the alleged fraudulent payments. Justice Kimmel has ordered Cox to provide the court with a statement of her own worldwide assets and the extent of her jointly-owned assets with Page and a numbered company operated by him.
As previously reported by SooToday, Page is being investigated by the Economic Crimes and Corruption Unit of the Ontario Provincial Police over a matter of missing computer data, according to court documents.
