It was an otherwise typical fall day, last October, in downtown Toronto for retired stockbroker and accredited investor James Statham, when he says he bumped into one of his sailing partners from the National Yacht Club, on the street.
Mulroney's pitch sealed investor's confidence The brochure included an online video, via Vimeo, featuring Mulroney, and stated the company had already raised $8 million. The brochure also claimed projected revenues of $833 million within five years. And in doing so the company would assert itself as a leader in social justice.
Statham said the brochure and the since-removed video was enough to convince him to invest $50,000 in exchange for 200,000 common shares of Orchard. On June 5, Statham filed a lawsuit against Orchard and Mulroney, the company’s chief impact officer, for “fraudulent and/or negligent misrepresentations” and omissions.
“Ronning engaged in the lavish expenditure of company funds beyond all boundaries set by the Board of Directors and the Expense Policy that he himself approved for the Company,” the Orchard claim states, according to Statham’s filing. Mulroney, former anchor for Your Morning and UNICEF ambassador for Canada, was asked via his counsel if he would speak to Statham’s claim and how he came to know Ronning and join Orchard.
Who is Robert Ronning? The public record shows Ronning first came under public scrutiny as a young realtor named Robert Zoost, when the Vancouver Sun reported in 2009 that his claims of being a successful luxury real estate agent were overstated. On Aug. 2, 2010, Ronning filed for bankruptcy, then owing $93,460 — an amount that remains undischarged to this day, as he has yet to meet the conditions of his court order, according to filings with the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy.