Not suggesting any involvement by the TF - suspect they probably have good controls. But there are lots of ways to play dirty. For example:
1. Criminal takes dirty money (drugs, whatever) and donates it to charity. They take the tax receipt and get a rebate on their legitimate business or personal income, essentially giving them half back in clean untraceable funds.
2. Supplier charges a large markup on goods and services purchased by the charity, or fudges volumes and amounts. They get paid in full and divert the funds to a criminal via another fake invoice.
3. Someone has a hobby that isn't tax deductible, so they sign up with a foundation like TF, make donations themselves and then direct where the money goes.
And so on. Remember the stories about how the delivered equipment didn't match Rob's boasts, in either quality or quantity? We've also got a politician with known addictions and cash problems directing where funds donated by city lobbyists are being spent with cursory oversight. That in itself is a huge red flag.
Maybe it's connected with Deco as well? Something about that outfit doesn't sit right with me: shit product, lousy wages/staff treatment, no public financials but revenue reported as nice round numbers every year (I can't find it right now, but someone found three consecutive years where the figure went up by $1 million each year).
And then there's this:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/doug-ford-at-deco/article21067584/
Three former employees who worked out of Deco’s Toronto office say the best example of the dysfunction is Apollo Health and Beauty Care, which became a significant client in 2011. The Fords wanted to make Apollo happy – even at the expense, at times, of more longstanding clients.
For example, Deco would commit to a printing a major order of meat labels ahead of a scheduled sale. But then Apollo would demand that a comparatively small job be done right away and Deco would jump.
“So instead of making time for a big customer, who is the bread and butter of your company … they’d be like ‘we have to really get that Apollo job on,’” said a former Deco staffer.
This approach to production caused delays, missed shipping dates and ultimately, frustrated clients. Former employees said that the Fords’ focus always seemed to be on the thing in front of them and not the big picture.
Even the City of Toronto, which orders thousands of dollars worth of products from Deco – including tourism labels, bike signage, and permit tags – had problems.
One incident chronicled through an e-mail exchange between the city’s Randy Smith and Deco’s Angie Garcha was obtained by The Globe through a freedom-of-information request. In early 2014, the City of Toronto ordered 500,000 water-meter tags for $24,195.
Deco initially committed to shipping the order on May 12, but it was changed to May 20. Five days before that deadline, Ms. Garcha e-mailed with bad news. “Due to the long weekend holidays we are going to be a bit late as to shipping this order out. We will have it shipped to arrive there on Friday May 23rd for sure.”
Then it was changed to June 5. Mr. Smith, a supervisor with Toronto Water, waited all day and, when nothing came, e-mailed Deco: “June 5th has come and gone without any delivery.” The order arrived June 10.
That wasn’t the only issue with the job. At the time of invoicing, the city was billed an additional $2,419.50 charge for extra tags that came off the print run.
“We ordered 500,000 and I never even dreamed that we would need to specify no overs or unders,” Mr. Smith wrote to Deco. In the end, the city agreed to take the extras.
Why is Apollo so important to the Fords? Who's behind it?
ETA: Okay, so that's easy to find out: Charles and Richard Wachsberg.
http://www.marketwired.com/press-re...s-independent-director-otcqb-ccan-1982648.htm
Canadian Cannabis Corp. ("CCAN" or the "Company") (OTCQB:CCAN) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Richard Wachsberg to the Board of Directors. Richard is co-founder and Chairman of Apollo Health and Beauty Care
Probably not significant, but interesting in the context of Rob 'I smoked a lot of it' Ford.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...r-clients-tax-break/article18605744/?page=all
The Wachsbergs moved their business from Vaughan to Toronto expecting a break on property taxes.
The Apollo chairman said he does not know how the Fords came to involve themselves in issues concerning his firm, and that the issue of disclosure of the relationship between his company and Deco is one for politicians to address, not him.
(...)
“Dear Rob and Doug,” he wrote. “This response is very unexpected given our conversations and we are quite disappointed in the result.” Given the 450 jobs that Apollo expected to bring to Toronto from its previous headquarters in Vaughan, and the environmental certifications the building was expected to receive, Apollo should be considered special, he wrote.
(...)
The mayor and Mr. Wachsberg questioned why city inspectors suspected Apollo was responsible for a spill that had taken place five kilometres away. City staff explained that inspectors traced the spill – a mass of foam that spewed out of a manhole in a public park – back up the sewer line to Apollo’s factory.
(...)
Planners had concerns Apollo was deviating from the construction site plan, making a private driveway look like a public road. Planning manager Neil Cresswell said he was called to the site in the spring of 2011 and arrived to be greeted by Mr. Wachsberg and the mayor. Mr. Cresswell said the mayor’s attendance sent a clear message to staff that he wanted “this building to proceed.”
Old news, but something still stinks.