News Article: Eugene Melnyk lawsuits:too many to count...

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Upgrayedd

Earn'em and Burn'em
Oct 14, 2010
5,306
1,610
Ottawa
My season seat rep changed for the 4th time in 3 years ugh.

Early on I had the same person for several years then the rotating group of interns? started often changing again at points during the season, it was easy to see the cheapness and lies beginning with the owner and team so I sadly had to cease sending them my money.
 

Larionov

Registered User
Feb 9, 2005
4,439
2,150
Ottawa, ON
Guys like Melnyk, Trump etc. are notorious for not paying their bills and stiffing suppliers. There was a story in 2016 about how Trump almost bankrupted this independent architect who worked on his golf courses as his lawyers tried to make the guy accept 20 cents on the dollar for his work. Often, they get away with it, as the supplier/PR firm etc. is forced to conclude that it will cost more money to sue to recover their money than it's worth. Once in a while, though, they run across someone who won't just roll over, which is what you're seeing here. It doesn't necessarily mean that they are broke (although they usually don't have nearly as much money as they claim) but rather that they have learned how not to pay their bills...
 
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thinkwild

Veni Vidi Toga
Jul 29, 2003
10,875
1,535
Ottawa
It would certainly seem plausible that Melnyk is stiffing people which is continuing to follow the What Would Trump Do mantra.

But there was also much ado about his trying to get loans recently. It's not something we usually hear about, but it was reported on this time. And a lot of debt was announced. Surely anyone new lending him money will want to lock up some revenue streams to guarantee repayment. Bryden I believe it was reported had taken about $19mil a year for 10 years and allocated it to another corporate entity for repayment of the arena.

Perhaps that is what happened with Melnyk trying to cash a cheque against an account that had been allocated for debt repayment and so the bank wasnt eligible to honour the cheque. With just the debt reported on for the Sens, and knowing a large percentage of his wealth is equity valuations, Sens appearing to represent a majority of it, it doesnt seem too hard to believe he has liquidity issues. And if thats true, well there's an easy for him to solve that.
 

BankStreetParade

Registered User
Jan 22, 2013
6,749
4,169
Ottawa
It would certainly seem plausible that Melnyk is stiffing people which is continuing to follow the What Would Trump Do mantra.

But there was also much ado about his trying to get loans recently. It's not something we usually hear about, but it was reported on this time. And a lot of debt was announced. Surely anyone new lending him money will want to lock up some revenue streams to guarantee repayment. Bryden I believe it was reported had taken about $19mil a year for 10 years and allocated it to another corporate entity for repayment of the arena.

Perhaps that is what happened with Melnyk trying to cash a cheque against an account that had been allocated for debt repayment and so the bank wasnt eligible to honour the cheque. With just the debt reported on for the Sens, and knowing a large percentage of his wealth is equity valuations, Sens appearing to represent a majority of it, it doesnt seem too hard to believe he has liquidity issues. And if thats true, well there's an easy for him to solve that.

You know, I honestly don't believe that Melnyk has liquidity issues. Maybe in his Canadian bank account it would look that way? But these guys have extraordinary wealth that comes with certain advantages. And it's no surprise that he lives in Barbados and claims his primary residence in Barbados, a country at the forefront of wealth sheltering. He almost certainly has a level of wealth, in liquidity, available to him in tax-sheltered offshore accounts. These guys aren't dumb. No billionaire would let the entire house of cards crumble on the back of their equity valuations being diluted or losing value. He probably has extraordinary sums of cash to fall back on in case things go sideways. Let's just say they pay very handsomely for their personal banking and wealth management consultants alongside their accountants.
 

AchtzehnBaby

Global Matador
Mar 28, 2013
15,167
9,010
Hazeldean Road
You know, I honestly don't believe that Melnyk has liquidity issues. Maybe in his Canadian bank account it would look that way? But these guys have extraordinary wealth that comes with certain advantages. And it's no surprise that he lives in Barbados and claims his primary residence in Barbados, a country at the forefront of wealth sheltering. He almost certainly has a level of wealth, in liquidity, available to him in tax-sheltered offshore accounts. These guys aren't dumb. No billionaire would let the entire house of cards crumble on the back of their equity valuations being diluted or losing value. He probably has extraordinary sums of cash to fall back on in case things go sideways. Let's just say they pay very handsomely for their personal banking and wealth management consultants alongside their accountants.

We know he is stubborn, and that the is likes to be a dick sometimes.

To me, it sounds like he was PO'ed in both instances and tried to bully his way out of a disagreement by not paying.

For sure he has the cash... no way he pissed away $900,000,000 in a few years.

I doubt it is all tied up in assets. (senators, shares of companies, etc)
 

thinkwild

Veni Vidi Toga
Jul 29, 2003
10,875
1,535
Ottawa
It might just be wishful thinking on my part leading to my wild speculation over his corporate, not necessarily personal, liquidity issues.

$600 mil of his $900m is Sens sports and entertainment? And he is $300 mil or so in debt? Unable to give Chabot signing bonuses cause he cant apparently getting working capital loans to cover his payroll while revenues are strolling in over the year?

I’d have to believe Melnyk has many millions of personal wealth, but I wouldn’t have thought that would be part of the money responsible for any of those debts.

But I am just irresponsibly speculating without data. And the WWTD mantra has explained much else so far.
 

Mingus Dew

Microphone Assassin
Oct 7, 2013
5,587
4,144
This isn’t a case of Melnyk not having the money. He just didn’t want to pay and I think he feels as though he can do whatever he wants in that regard. It’s very likely that he has simply refused to pay bills in the past and gotten away with it.
 
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Yak

Registered User
Jun 30, 2009
3,559
2,502
Los Angeles
www.androidheadlines.com
Of course Melynk is not broke but he sure plays the part well at times.

The problem is the future of the team. What bank wants to deal with this guy? Who would want to finance or partner with him? He has burned more bridges then most people in Ottawa if his profile.

I dont care how much money he has or does not have. No way he is the part of the future of the Sens the way he runs the team. Can you imagine him financing a arena in this town any time soon? ....lol...

The way he runs this franchise most of the time you think is on the verge of bankruptcy. You can handle your debts like this but people are not stupid enough to get burned by a shady businessman like Melynk.
 

SensHulk

Registered User
May 31, 2016
1,877
1,679
San Jose, CA
Found this little gem in a small alley bar in Tokyo
 

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jhutter

Registered User
Dec 23, 2016
1,194
830
Of course Melynk is not broke but he sure plays the part well at times.

The problem is the future of the team. What bank wants to deal with this guy? Who would want to finance or partner with him? He has burned more bridges then most people in Ottawa if his profile.

I dont care how much money he has or does not have. No way he is the part of the future of the Sens the way he runs the team. Can you imagine him financing a arena in this town any time soon? ....lol...

The way he runs this franchise most of the time you think is on the verge of bankruptcy. You can handle your debts like this but people are not stupid enough to get burned by a shady businessman like Melynk.

He is not broke in the sense that he's no longer a rich man, but he could very well be broke in the sense that he doesn't have the wealth to own an NHL team.
 

slamigo

Skate or Die!
Dec 25, 2007
6,434
3,819
Ottawa
Melnyk isn't broke by any stretch of the imagination. However, he obviously will not spend his own money on the team. He views the team's finances as separate from his own. In that sense, the team needs to borrow money to cover expenses. The team also needs to make money to pay down its debt. In the end, he'll simply package the team along with the debt when the sale date comes along. If he has a planned exit date (or general idea) and it's within the next 3-5 years, he's not going to put any money at all into the team. In fact, running a bare bones operation is probably more favourable to a sale. Le sigh.
 
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harrisb

Registered User
Oct 6, 2009
2,217
952
Melnyk isn't broke by any stretch of the imagination. However, he obviously will not spend his own money on the team. He views the team's finances as separate from his own. In that sense, the team needs to borrow money to cover expenses. The team also needs to make money to pay down its debt. In the end, he'll simply package the team along with the debt when the sale date comes along. If he has a planned exit date (or general idea) and it's within the next 3-5 years, he's not going to put any money at all into the team. In fact, running a bare bones operation is probably more favourable to a sale. Le sigh.
We all should have banded together as a city and bought the team. He put none of his own money in to begin with and we could have done the same. City gives us tax breaks as they are part owners too and we could speed any new arena plans. Team would likely be in better shape today.
 

Engineer

Rustled your jimmies
Dec 23, 2013
6,143
1,892
Melnyk files possible defences for nonpayment of gambling debt

Some bizarre defenses here:
The first is that bank drafts were generated as indicated in March 2017, but, Katz alleges, the casino could have delayed presenting them for payment until September, which “caused the drafts to become stale.”

Katz, concerned the “questionable appearance” of the signatures that appeared on the drafts. This, he added, would have given TD Bank a reasonable basis for believing the drafts might not be genuine. Katz noted that TD Bank was not under the control of Melnyk.

the possibility that the gaming authority acted in “bad faith”. How so? Katz alleges Melnyk’s defence could be that the casino “refused (Melnyk’s) instruction to cash out” his chips just when he was winning “significant amounts of money.” The allegation is that the gaming authority “induced” Melnyk to keep gambling until he incurred “substantial losses.”
 
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Micklebot

Moderator
Apr 27, 2010
53,782
30,981
My favourite part...

Katz in his filing gave notice that he may argue any one or all of these defences “or alternative defences” in an upcoming motion to dismiss the complaint against the Ottawa Senators owner.

so basically the filing tells us that he may use any number of zany defenses including those that he hasn't thought of yet.
 

Nac Mac Feegle

wee & free
Jun 10, 2011
34,890
9,306
Throwing shit against the wall to see if anything might stick.

Seems to be the go-to for con men like that these days....
 
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