Lawsuit alleges millions stolen from Six Nations entrepreneurs to fund a chain of gas stations, a 70-foot yacht and a lavish lifestyle
A Waterdown businessperson vehemently" denies accusations he stole millions of dollars from his business partners to fund a lavish lifestyle and open a chain of discount gas stations on Indigenous reserves in Ontario.
Glenn Page is the target of a lawsuit from Miles and Scott Hill, two brothers who run Six Nations-based Original Traders Energy (OTE), a company that imports, blends and transports fuel products to gas stations in Ontario.
The Hill brothers are suing Page, the former president of OTE, for breach of contract, theft, fraud, negligence and unjust enrichment" from what the Hills' statement of claim describes as a conspiracy" to misappropriate funds from OTE to build gas stations branded as Gen7 Fuel.
None of the allegations have been tested in court.
The defendants wrongfully interfered with the plaintiffs' business to enrich themselves, cause harm to the plaintiffs, and to conceal their aforesaid unlawful acts," reads the statement of claim filed in October in Ontario Superior Court.
Their many unlawful acts ... were deliberate, planned, concealed and undertaken in concert as an unlawful conspiracy among all of the defendants."
In a phone interview with The Spectator, Glenn Page called the allegations absolutely, 100 per cent erroneous."
It will all be laid out in the defence, and it will be very, very clear that the allegations are totally without any substantiation and have no merit," Page said.
The lawsuit describes Glenn Page as Miles Hill's right-hand man," with a quarter ownership stake in OTE and complete executive and operational control" over OTE's dealings until he resigned as president in July 2022.
According to the statement of claim, the Hill brothers retained 52 per cent ownership to keep OTE an Indigenous-led business serving gas stations in First Nations communities, but they were not involved in daily operations. Within five years of the company's founding in 2017, OTE had opened several large fuel-blending facilities on First Nations reserves and was importing fuel from the United States to meet growing demand, reaching average daily fuel sales of two million litres by 2022.
Glenn Page and his brother Brian - who is also named in the lawsuit - allegedly led these efforts, with the understanding that majority ownership and control would always be with the Hill brothers," who put up the money from their base of operations on Six Nations, the statement of claim says.
When Glenn Page proposed opening a chain of Indigenous-operated gas stations branded as Gen7 Fuel - the name is a nod to the Haudenosaunee belief that decisions must be made with the next seven generations in mind - the Hills agreed as long as OTE's involvement would end at supplying fuel to the new stations.
Instead, the suit alleges, Page used his controlling position in OTE to funnel money and resources from OTE to Gen7, without the consent of the Hill brothers.
The 70-foot yacht
The Hills allege the defendants forged financial statements to conceal the truth of their dealings while using more than $15 million of OTE funds to build the Gen7 gas stations, creating fictitious employees on the payroll and drawing down the company's lines of credit.
It is further claimed that Glenn Page and his wife siphoned off another $5 million from OTE to vacation on OTE's dime, book chartered flights for non-business activities, and buy a 70-foot yacht named Cuz We Can" in 2021.
These revelations came to light, the lawsuit claims, when Miles and Scott Hill met with OTE's bankers in Hamilton in July and learned the bank was conducting its own investigation into millions of dollars of suspicious wire transfers from OTE's bank account" authorized by Glenn Page and two former Gen7 employees named in the suit - Kellie Hodgins and Mandy Cox, who is Glenn Page's wife.
They had no right or approval to use company funds for those purposes, and wrongfully took advantage of their positions in the business," the lawsuit reads.
Cox, Hodgins and the Page brothers have indicated they will defend the action in court.
Lawyers for Cox and Hodgins declined to comment for this story, while Brian Page's lawyer did not respond to several emailed requests for comment.
The lawyers representing the Hill brothers did not respond to several requests for comment.
Missing gas tax payments
In August, the Hills received a second shock after they were informed OTE owed $35 million in provincial and federal gas tax remittance payments.
That money, the lawsuit alleges, was nowhere to be found in the company's books.
The lawsuit alleges that after Glenn Page resigned as OTE president last summer, Brian Page, Cox and Hodgins locked the Hills out of the company's accounts, denying access to information while destroying records and deleting emails on their way out.
Various companies allegedly owned by the Pages and Cox are also named as defendants, including nine Gen7 Fuel gas stations operating throughout Ontario.
The Hills are seeking $1 million in punitive damages from each defendant, plus the return of any money allegedly defrauded from OTE and any assets improperly acquired with the allegedly ill-gotten funds.
Glenn Page told The Spectator it was unfortunate" Gen7 is in the public eye thanks to this lawsuit, and not the company's support for Indigenous entrepreneurs who are doing amazing things for their communities."
It is majority First Nations-owned," Page said of Gen7, a company whose corporate mission, according to its website, is to strengthen First Nations economies" by helping business owners and donating a portion of fuel sales to local causes.
Page said the narrative presented in the statement of claim is a sensationalized, one-sided account" that is riddled with half-stories" and missing details."
He likened the lawsuit, which ends his 20-year business and personal relationship with the Hills, to a very unfortunate corporate divorce between partners."
There were several attempts to work through the process, all of which seemed to be all fine and well. And then the lawsuit showed up," Page said.
J.P. Antonacci's reporting on Haldimand and Norfolk is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. jpantonacci@thespec.com