Bruce McConville, 55, from Ottawa claims he burned $1 million cash to avoid giving it to his ex-wife
A Canadian man has claimed that he burned more than one million dollars in cash in an attempt to ensure his ex-wife is unable to lay her hands on any of the cash as part of a divorce settlement.
Bruce McConville, 55, from Ottawa told a Superior Court judge that he burnt the money out of frustration after being told he needed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in child and spousal support.
The judge in his case did not believe the outlandish claims that the money had been smoked and has sentenced McConville to 30 days in jail and directed him to tell the truth as to whereabouts of the cash.
Just two years ago, McConville was even running for mayor of the Canadian capital, but his campaign failed, much like his marriage.
The failed candidate is accused of selling his properties and businesses behind his wife’s back and then tossing the cash onto two bonfires according to O Canada. He is also accused of ignoring a Superior Court order to pay the court $300,000 as a security.
A judge didn’t believe him and sent Bruce McConville, 55, pictured, to jail
McConville has long defied a court order to file an affidavit about his finances and told the judge that the money was burned in two bonfires with $743,000 going up in smoke last September and a further $296,000 turned to ashes in December.
By not revealing where the proceeds from his sales went, the court has been unable to work out what he owes in child and spousal support and so he has been getting away with paying nothing.
McConville told Superior Court Justice Kevin Phillips he managed to withdraw a total of $1,050,000 over the course of 25 withdrawals from six bank accounts.
He claims to have kept the receipts from the ATMs but no longer has the money.
He is accused of selling some of his properties and businesses to his former accountant, even though a court order told him not to sell any assets. He is pictured outside his auto shop
McConville made a failed attempt to run for mayor of Ottawa in 2018
‘So where’s the money now? Phillips asked, according to O Canada who were present in court.
‘I destroyed it,’ McConville replied.
‘You’ve lost me. What do you mean?’ the judge responded. ‘When you say you destroyed it, what do you mean?’
‘I burnt it,’ McConville said.
‘To the tune of how much?’ the judge quizzed.
‘In total, about a million and thirty-nine thousand dollars,’ McConville said.
‘How does destroying over a million dollars advance your child’s best interest?’ the ‘ Justice Phillips asked. ‘You understand that’s hard to believe?’
McConville has stated that he is unable to provide any evidence of the cash being set on fire saying that he never filmed the bonfires or has any witnesses to back up his claims.
McConville has not produced any documentation to show how much he made from the sale of his businesses nor has be produced any evidence to show he actually burned his own money
‘It’s not something that I would normally do,’ McConville said to the judge. ‘I am not a person that is extremely materialistic. A little goes a long way. I have always been frugal. That’s why my business lasted for 31 years.’
The judge felt that McConville ‘very clearly and deliberately set out to thwart the court and the proper administration of justice,’ and sentenced him to 30 days in jail.
Judge Phillips warned McConville that if he explain the whereabouts of the money, he would likely face an even lengthier jail term as well as having to face a $2,000-day-fine.
‘You are making a mockery of this court, and its process, something I will not allow … You are conducting yourself with intent to deliberately and wilfully frustrate the proper administration of justice.
After being released from jail in 30 days, McConville will be fined $2,000-a-day until he reveals the true whereabouts of the missing million
‘More particularly, I find what you have done to be morally reprehensible because what you claim to have done wilfully and directly undermines the interests of your children,’ the judge added,
‘You have set out to do damage to your children’s future by destroying, on purpose, the financial wherewithal that you had to provide for their best interests.’
‘It may well be, therefore, that your remaining assets end up entirely in the hands of ex-wife. If that’s the result you are trying to bring about, then so be it. But you cannot thumb your nose at the court as you have done.’
The judge made it crystal clear that he did not believe McConvilles story about how he had disaposed of the money.
‘I don’t believe you. I don’t trust you. I don’t think you’re honest,’ the judge said.