Vacations, meals, booze: Contractor used $100K of charity's money for personal expenses, B.C. court finds
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A B.C. man who was hired to help a non-profit build a food hub but instead spent the money on personal expenses – including travel, restaurants, booze and cannabis – has been ordered to pay more than $120,000 in damages.
A B.C. man who was hired to help a non-profit build a food hub but instead spent the money on personal expenses – including travel, restaurants, booze and cannabis – has been ordered to pay more than $120,000 in damages.
The decision in the case was handed down last month, with the judge's ruling posted online Wednesday.
Cowichan Green Community Society, the decision says, raised over a million dollars in government grants in order to construct a building in Duncan that would function as a food hub where local farmers could process and distribute food. It would also serve as a base for "services, research and education related to its mandate" of improving food security.
The charity contracted Christopher Patrick Whittle for consulting and construction services and paid the companies of which he was the sole proprietor three deposits totalling $108,000.
"Shortly after he received the deposits, Mr. Whittle transferred the money out of the business account of the corporate defendant, which he controlled," Justice Gareth Morley wrote.
"He used the deposit money to pay for personal expenses, including a cross-Canada trip, surf lodges, motorsports, pet supplies, vaporizers, restaurants, pubs and liquor and cannabis purchases."
The non-profit sued Whittle and the corporate defendants for breach of contract in May of 2023, "before it was revealed that Mr. Whittle had spent the deposit funds on personal expenses," the decision said.
