A Canadian businessman burned $1 million dollars because he would rather throw the money in a fire than pay his wife spousal and child support as part of their divorce settlement, according to a report.
Bruce McConville, 55, was sentenced to 30 days behind bars after admitting to an Ottawa judge that he withdrew the cash, the eqivalent of about $750,000 in U.S. dollars, through 25 withdrawals from six bank accounts, and then burned it in two bonfires on Sept. 23 and Dec. 15, the Ottawa Citizen reported.
"How does destroying over a million dollars advance your child's best interest?" Superior Court Justice Kevin Phillips asked McConville, who ran for mayor of Ottawa in 2018.
"It's not something that I would normally do," McConville replied. "I am not a person that is extremely materialistic."
Frustrated by divorce proceedings, McConville said he decided to burn the money.
There were no witnesses and McConville said he did not film himself throwing the money into the bonfires. Phillips said he found the whole ordeal hard to believe and accused McConville of attempting to "thwart the court and the proper administration of justice."
The failed mayoral candidate was previously ordered to file an affidavit about his finances amid concerns that he was keeping profits from selling his properties a secret. McConville kept his financial affairs a mystery, making it difficult for the court to establish how much he owed in spousal and child support. He refrained from paying either and further defied a court order to cough up $300,000 as security.
On Jan. 28, he was sentenced to 30 days in prison.
"You are making a mockery of this court and its process, something I will not allow," Phillips said upon his ruling. "More particularly, I find what you have done to be morally reprehensible because what you claim to have done willfully and directly undermines the interests of your children."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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