The Truth about Frank D'Angelo - Part Three

RAPE - Frank D'Angelo, an incompetent Canadian businessman who drove his companies into bankruptcy in 2007, and was also charged with sexual assault/rape the same year when he lured a young woman up to his hotel, ripped her clothes off, pulled her hair and proceeded to have sex with her. Most people would call that rape, but unfortunately he got away with it because of conspiracy and obstruction of justice (charges against Frank D'Angelo are still before the courts for tampering with his sexual assault case, namely bribing a cop and two crown attorneys).

For more information about Frank D'Angelo see:

The Truth about Frank D'Angelo & The Truth about Frank D'Angelo - Part Two.

But this isn't all. I have done a fair chunk of research on this scumbag, and as promised, everytime he or his lawyer emails me, I am writing about the research which I have dug up about Frank D'Angelo.

In total Frank D'Angelo (and his twin companies Steelback Brewery and D'Angelo Brands, Inc.) wracked up debts of $162 million dollars (Canadian) from investors. Court documents show that Barry Sherman's Wasanda Enterprises Inc. was owed $101,619,464.20 alone, plus $20 million in accrued interest.

"Court filings indicated more than 300 unsecured creditors have submitted claims of $12.8 million." - The Toronto Star.

According to CanadianBusiness.com Frank D'Angelo's marketing budget alone exceeded his revenues. He spent ridiculous amounts of other people's money on TV commercials (including the Super Bowl), sponsorships and "went wild" on advertising spending promoting himself as "I am the brand!"

In the Summer of 2007 D'Angelo spent $5.4 million on marketing campaigns, despite having only $2.5 million in revenue.

Frank D'Angelo also chose to package the beer in plastic, a move which made the beer seem cheap and also damaged the quality of the beer. It also was more expensive to bottle it in plastic, which wracked up another expense.

"The Shermans quickly distanced themselves from their former partner, blaming him publicly for overspending on advertising and admitting to past inconsistencies in beer quality." - CanadianBusiness.com.

The Sherman family bought control of both companies in 2008 from Frank D'Angelo for $8 million. The companies filed for bankruptcy protection and later offered investors 5 cents on the dollar (a mere $640,000) to pay off the $12.8 million in other investors Frank D'Angelo owed money to.

During his time in power Frank D'Angelo paid himself millions using other people's money. Today Frank D'Angelo owns only a minority stake in D'Angelo Brands, Inc., but remains the public spokesperson.

Furthermore Frank D'Angelo didn't stop at taking money from investors. He also took work from people and then refused to pay them. D'Angelo owes a $550 debt owed to the City of Toronto's parking infractions payment office, nearly $6,000 owed to Molly Maid and almost $3,000 to a student-run painting service.

He also owed the Atlantic Beer Festival in Moncton $342, the Canadian National Exhibition $6,000, the Wexford Heights Business Improvement Association in Toronto, $12,000 and auto parts maker Magna International is owed over $11,000 for services rendered.

The biggest of these is $3.5-million for unpaid work for TV and print ads promoting Frank D'Angelo's beverages, owed to Mr. Cecere who produced most of D'Angelo's TV ads in the time period leading up to his bankruptcy.

Frank D'Angelo also gave post-dated cheques to various sports groups, allowing them to buy new equipment in exchange for advertising on their teams' paraphernalia. These cheques later bounced because D'Angelo didn't have the necessary funds to pay them. These groups include: Toronto Argonauts football club, Ottawa 67's hockey team, tax officials in several communities and a bowling alley in Listowel, Ont.

Lastly Frank D'Angelo owes $1,500 to the President's Choice Children's Charity and $40 to the Wasaga, Ont., Lions Club. Frank D'Angelo agreed to sponsor CIBC Run for the Cure (Breast Cancer) for $1,000 but never actually paid them.

NOTE: Frank D'Angelo sang "You Gotta Believe" in TV commercials promoting sales of his CDs, claiming he would donate money to breast cancer research. He spent thousands of dollars promoting himself in TV commercials, but never actually paid them. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS-H_mXBU5A

No one charged Frank D'Angelo with deliberately defrauding them of their money and/or refusing to pay for services rendered. Large questions remain about where the $162 million dollars disappeared to, how much Frank D'Angelo was paying himself, who actually owned some of the sports groups or charities he was giving money to (and whether they were legitimate or possibly fronts for money laundering), and why he was promoting himself as a philanthropist, but kept skipping out on the bill.

If Frank D'Angelo was simply pocketing a lot of the money (and doing so through bogus charities or sports groups) then he is not only guilty of money laundering, he is also guilty of fraud, conspiracy, income tax evasion and possibly guilty of running a Ponzi scheme to deliberately defraud investors. This would qualify as "organized crime".

So in addition to the conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges currently facing Frank D'Angelo, he probably should also be charged with running a mafia ring.

Oh, and to tie this back to feminism... what kind of prick pretends to donate money to breast cancer and then refuses to pay up? The kind who is a complete fake.

REFERENCES

Steelback Breweries files for Bankruptcy Protection
Steelback in 'liquidity crisis'
Steelback creditors queue up
The Ode: Steelback Brewery
D'Angelo creditors offered 5% on claims
Steelback returns as reinvented microbrew