Court upholds Ng bankruptcy condition

The Ontario appeal court has rejected an effort by former industry executive Gary Ng to have a court-ordered condition for exiting bankruptcy — the requirement to pay $13.6 million — lifted.

Last July, a judge in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued an order that required Ng to pay $13.6 million to his bankruptcy estate — representing 50% of the admitted, unsecured claims against him — in order to be discharged from bankruptcy.

Ng appealed that order.

According to the Ontario Court of Appeal, Ng argued “that it was improper for the motion judge to impose this monetary condition given that there is no evidence he can fulfill it.”

The court rejected his argument, saying that it sees “no error” in the lower court’s order.

“[The judge] made no error in principle in imposing this monetary condition and it fell within his discretionary powers under [bankruptcy legislation],” it said.

“The condition was fully justified on the record and in the circumstances of this case,” the court said — adding that it didn’t see any errors in the other conditions imposed by the order.

According to a report from the bankruptcy trustee, the claims that it has admitted against Ng total $27.2 million. These include $17.75 million owed to BlackRock funds stemming from loan guarantees; $5.2 million owed to the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO), which ordered penalties against Ng following enforcement proceedings in 2022; and $4 million that’s owed on a guarantee of a loan from failed fund manager Bridging Finance Inc. in connection with Ng’s efforts to finance the acquisition of various financial firms, including 50% of Bridging.

That report noted that the bankruptcy trustee had received, but not admitted, claims from the other creditors totalling more than $340 million.

The court dismissed Ng’s request to lift the condition and ordered him to pay $15,000 in costs to the bankruptcy trustee.

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.