Dieppe businessman feared financial ruin in deal with man accused of fraud, theft

A Dieppe business owner testified Tuesday that Daniel Bard framed his willingness to make a multimillion-dollar loan agreement with him as wanting to "give back and help out."

Nine years after the deal started and eventually left Clinton Davis out $25,000 US, he now describes his experience with Bard as "scary," "confusing" and "too good to be true."

Bard is on trial for 19 charges that were laid in 2022, including fraud, theft and money laundering. His retrial began Jan. 20, about six months after his first trial ended in a mistrial when his former lawyer withdrew from the case due to health problems.

Davis testified Tuesday for a second time in the case. He told Moncton provincial court Judge Anne Richard that in July 2017 he and his wife and business partner, Saly, went to a Moncton economic development agency called 3+ for business advice.

The couple owned Davis & Dye Inc. at the time — a hair salon in the Champlain Place mall in Dieppe.

The meeting is when they first met Bard, who was vice-president of investment attraction at 3+ at the time, Davis said. They told him they wanted to exit the business due to stress, and that they had their sights on purchasing a diner in Moncton.

Instead, Davis said Bard had a look at the salon's numbers and offered to bring them into a larger loan deal to franchise a new salon.

"It was a profitable business,” Davis testified.

Bard's proposal was for the Clintons to pay him $25,000 US. In exchange, he would get them access to a larger "credit enhancement" loan between six and 10 million dollars, Davis said.

The idea was to use that money to create a new salon franchise, build a factory to produce beauty products that would stock the stores and open a beauty school.

Davis said he remembers thinking, “why would someone do this?" as he recalled Bard's offer.

Bard told the couple that he had a successful career and he was almost ready to retire.

“It explained a little bit of the rationale behind it, the philanthropist sort of aspect," Davis said. "I guess it served just to instill a certain degree of faith ... in what he was doing and his intentions.”

Reading from a copy of the letter of intent he said Bard provided him, Davis said the loan amount was refundable to the business should the project not go through.