Three days ahead of the provincial election, Ontario PC leader Doug Ford has been slapped with a lawsuit by the wife of his late brother and former mayor Rob Ford, in which she accuses him of keeping money from his children and being a ânegligentâ business manager.The $16 million lawsuit, launched by Renata Ford, also names Rob Fordâs children Douglas and Stephanie as plaintiffs.In it, the former mayorâs widow accuses the PC leader and his brother Randy of breach of trust, conspiracy, mismanaging the family business, Deco Companies, as well as withholding millions of dollars from them, including shares in the business as well as a life insurance policy.Ford, who has consistently put forward a picture of himself as a successful business owner, and Randy ânegligently and improperly mismanagedâ the business and destroyed its value, the lawsuit alleges. None of the allegations, which were made public by the Toronto Sun and the Toronto Star, have been proven in court.Renata, pictured below, also claims Doug and his brother have continued to âgrossly overcompensateâ themselves, despite the business suffering steady losses.Doug Ford has "knowingly and deliberately put (Renata and her two children) in a highly stressful and unfair financial position during their period of grief after Rob Fordâs death, and continued to do so for more than two years after Rob Fordâs death," said the statement of claim.In a statement, Ford called the claims related to the business âcompletely falseâ and said he and his brother would âstrongly refute them in court.ââI have also stood by my brother and his family through so many of their challenging times, and will always be there for Stephanie and Dougie,â he said.âRenataâs lawyers have been clear to us throughout this campaign, that either we hand over money, or they would go public with these false claims, and that is exactly what they have done, with three days to go until the election,â the statement continued.Doug and Rob Fordâs mother Diane said in a statement that it was âheartbreaking that Renata has chosen to bring forward these false and baseless allegations against our family, right in the middle of the provincial election campaign.âSign up for the VICE News Canada Newsletter to get the best of our content delivered to your inbox daily.âAs a family, our one goal is to ensure Robâs children are cared for and their financial futures are secure,â Dianeâs statement continued. âRenata has serious struggles with addiction, and our hope is that she will accept help for the sake of herself and my grandchildren.âRob Ford died in 2016 from cancer, after a scandal-plagued reign as mayor of Toronto in which he admitted to smoking crack cocaine.In her lawsuit, Renata alleges that Doug Ford approached her after Robâs death and asked that they settle estate affairs without lawyers.âLetâs get rid of the lawyers and settle this on our own,â said Doug Ford, according to Renata. âThey will only steal your money. Youâre going to lose everything in your savings.â
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According the statement of claim, Doug and Randy Ford couldnât agree on many aspects of running the business, never implemented a business plan, made a series of âill advised acquisitions,â and their lack of attention resulted in the value of the business being destroyed.âNeither Doug Ford nor Randy Ford have the education and business ability to justify their employment as senior officers of Deco Toronto and Deco Chicago.âUnder the brothers, the company saw losses of about $5 million between 2010 and 2017, according to the statement.Renata also claims Doug and Randy hired friends and family to work at the business who werenât qualified, and that they ânegligently mistreated and unreasonably dismissedâ who âproposed improvementsâ to the business.Renata claims Doug and Randy used money from their late fatherâs estate to prop up the business â $5 million that Rob Fordâs estate has been deprived of, according to the statement of claim â and that Doug âimproperly administered Robâs estate,â withholding a $220,000 insurance policy from Renata and the children, as well as the residual proceeds of his bank account deposits, GICs, RRSPs and TFSAs.Cover image: Ontario PC leader Doug Ford makes a campaign announcement in Toronto on Monday, June 4, 2018. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn)Under the brothers, the company saw losses of about $5 million between 2010 and 2017, according to the statement.