It appears that one man’s vow to donate $7.5 million to a junior B hockey team in his home town may not quite work out the way the team hoped.
In mid-October, Calgary resident Mike Gould promised that amount to the Kimberley Dynamiters (he’s seen second from left in the above photo celebrating the donation), from his hometown of Kimberley, British Columbia, and he went on to celebrate with them in a banquet at a local restaurant. But, as Douglas Quan of The National Post writes, things haven’t gone smoothly since then:
In mid-October, Mike Gould, 38, announced at a pre-game ceremony his intention of donating $7.5 million to the Dynamiters hockey team in his hometown of Kimberley, B.C.
The following night, he threw a banquet for the team at the Northwest Grill in nearby Cranbrook, incurring a tab of $8,000. As the National Post outlined in a story this past weekend, Gould initially presented two cheques to cover the bill.
According to restaurant owner, Jolene Salanski, Gould signed one of the cheques in the restaurant and the other cheque was already signed. But Gould called the next day asking her not to cash the cheques. When she examined the cheques more closely, she discovered the cheques were under someone else’s name.
She said she later learned they belonged to Gould’s stepfather and that he had not authorized the use of the cheques.
Weeks went by before Gould finally came in and paid the $8,000 tab using cash, she said.
Cranbrook RCMP Const. Katie Forgeron said Tuesday Crown counsel approved charges of fraud and forgery against Gould on Friday stemming from the restaurant incident. She said she couldn’t elaborate now that the matter is before the court.
Gould is set to appear in provincial court Dec. 18 over these charges. But these are far from the first complaints about him. Here’s more about him from that previous story Quan penned this weekend:
One night in February, Jacqueline Jordan’s ex-boss showed up at her door in Airdrie, Alta., with an outrageous offer.
“Jackie, I’m gonna change your life,” she said he told her.
He announced he was going to gift Jordan $1 million — a portion of the riches he said he had amassed from a lottery win and smart investments.
…Though she waited in an office building lounge each day for the better part of a week, Jordan said her former boss never came through with the money.
“He’s after the attention. He’s after people to be in awe of him,” Jordan, 49, told the National Post. “He’s got to be the hero. It doesn’t matter that it’s all fictional.”
So, yeah, that doesn’t seem great. Especially considering how that story talks about Gould presenting financial documents from agencies that have disputed their accuracy. Of course, the restaurant in question was eventually paid, and the claims against Gould from the hockey team, Jordan and others have not yet been proven in court. But this story certainly makes you wonder, and makes you think that not all plans to donate to local sports are necessarily as good as they sound.
What a nut job!