PREAMBLE
Paul Maines and 7645686 Canada Inc., just filed an unprecedented Motion in the PEI Supreme Court on Tuesday, February 1, 2022, as a further step in his lawsuit against Dennis King et al.
This Motion is asking the court to set aside the Settlement Agreement that Maine’s counsel, John Philips, signed with whistle-blower, Jeffrey Warren Reynold’s (JR’s) former lawyer, Chris Robinson.
The court documents [Notice of Motion; Paul Maines’ Affidavit; and the Affidavits of several others, with copious “Exhibits”] show that Reynolds did agree to settle with Maines.
JR was to be released as a Defendant in the lawsuit in exchange for his providing Maines’ counsel with hundreds of materially-relevant documents which he had previously told Maines he had in his possession. By “relevant,” I mean relevant to Maines’ lawsuit against King, Campbell, LeClair, and JR.
These new court documents show that upon delivery of the document, JR then did a complete 180 degree turn-about, claiming […through his lawyer in Halifax at the time, Chris Robinson, who is now in the process of getting “disbarred” or somehow severely penalized for some apparently very unsavoury, un-lawyerlike things he did…legal counsel no longer representing JR] that there were NO documents to be delivered for settlement, and that he was, with signed agreement in hand, nonetheless seeking to be released immediately from the lawsuit.
That actually would have been a pretty good deal for JR, and I suppose one can’t fault him and Robinson for trying [what am I saying – YOU SURE CAN FAULT HIM!!]….but Maines apparently didn’t see the ‘upside’ of that deal, so he chose to immediately go to work preparing a monstrous Motion Record with his legal counsel in Toronto.
With this filing, Maines and private investigator Derrick Snowdy have now publicly “OUTED” Jeffrey Warren Reynolds as the “Whistle Blower”!
In fact, over 200 documents (mostly screen captures of FB and text messages between Maines and JR) have been filed as “Exhibits” with the Affidavits.
Many have JR describing himself as a “champion for democracy,” – an Island Resident Warrior for justice, if you will: the email address he (allegedly) used so as not to be easily identified during the time he was on the “in” with the Insider Gamesys proposal group was reswarrior@hotmail.com.
From the extensive documentation filed by Maines and all that JR said to Maines (and others) over a very long period of time….well, anyone would bet big that JR was indeed sincere about outing corruption and nogoodery in the King government. You would conclude from those messages in Maines’ Affidavit that JR was1000% onboard – after all, IT WAS JR’S IDEA – if the filed messages are authentically from him – in contacting Maines to assist him in outing corruption in the King government.
So what happened?
Hmm. I’m afraid we’ll have to wait for the answer to that question …it has yet to be determined, at least by me. Speculating is poison to a researcher with any credibility, so I won’t do that, but I’m confident we’ll get answers this time around….and soon.
My reason for thinking that has to do with the nature of the filings and what is being sought from the court. It has the same “feel” to it as requests for injunctions to stop something that would be hard to “undo” – like buildings where the legality of the construction is in question.
In this case, the court will recognize the need to move quickly, given that it’s a time-sensitive matter: i.e., the original Notice of Motion is SEEKING A PRESERVATION ORDER FOR DOCUMENTS, from the PEI Supreme Court which for reasons I’m not privy to, in my opinion, should have been scheduled immediately months ago – the “document destruction” pandemic is far from over in PEI, I can assure you, so a healthy dose of suspicion that people would be doing that is by no means misplaced.
There are hundreds of questions to be answered and this article is not the place to fill in all the blanks – it’s announcing a series that will attempt to do that.
However, from my vantage point, it appears that JR may just become that justice warrior after all, thanks to the tenacity of Paul Maines (i.e., not by JR’s choice it appears, as was JR’s [apparently] original “plan”…but by that tenacity of Maines, and likely a fair bit of ‘coin’ he had to pony up somehow to go along with that tenacity) as he has now become the most instrumental factor in what I now see as the inevitable, and imminent, exposure of corruption in this gaming matter, where those involved lost [forever] their “window of opportunity” [as in “escaping out the window”] to get to one of their “safe houses”.
Ironically, all that information in the extensive documentation just filed that JR probably thought was deleted and gone forever – something he may have told people, including his lawyer [why else would his lawyer say there were no documents when it came time to deliver?….who knows? It’s all speculation!].
What’s truly amazing to me though, is that in seemingly flip-flopping on what he promised to provide in the Settlement Agreement with Maines – in fulfilling his justice vocation – he inadvertently (…or “intentionally” …who really knows?) has put – and this we DO KNOW – a truckload of information on file, by making this Motion necessary.
This series wouldn’t be happening – nor would the Motion that Maines just filed – revealing these documents if not for the JR flip-flop on the Settlement Agreement; if he hadn’t, all these documents would never have been deemed “materially-relevant” to the legal action.
That’s why this Motion or step in the legal action against King et al., is targeting JR – it’s seeking is to get the whistle-blower’s records that were to be provided in exchange for JR being released from the action.
Maines is seeking a court Order to have the legally-binding Settlement Agreement JR signed enforced, but he has to prove there are documents, because JR is apparently now saying that there are no documents, hence the 1000 pages as argument why the court should enforce the “turning-over of those documents” as per the terms of the Settlement Agreement.
Everything in this Motion is, therefore, JR-related. His 11th hour abrupt “about-face” put all these scandal-revealing documents in the public realm.
WHAT’S NEXT?
I’m going to be rolling out a new series starting right away, with articles every day, or nearly every day, depending on circumstances, to get to you the ASTOUNDING information that has just been revealed in this new court filing on the lawsuit against King et. al.
The documents in the Motion Record for this court filing are all NEW information, and it’s all about the guy on the right-hand side of my feature graphic: Jeffrey Warren Reynolds – aka – “JR”, and his interest and involvement in the gaming scheming with King and the PEI government, and his stated intention to Maines to expose that corruption.
Maines’ affidavit lays out “chronologically” and clearly all the communications with JR, mapping the developing relationship with JR, after JR reached out to Maines back in early 2020 to express an interest in helping him with his egaming efforts, and in making the King government more accountable.
So, the story pretty much tells itself in the filing, especially Maines’ lengthy Affidavit.
Maines’ Affidavit reveals step-by-step the ongoing involvement of JR, his interests and stated intentions, etc., all captured in communications between JR and Maines, as well as between Reynolds and other individuals that Reynolds subsequently shared with Maines.
In some instances, others have shared the communications their received from JR with Maines after receiving from Reynolds, i.e., forwarding by FB messenger.
Many of the communications help us to bring into focus a little more clearly the big-picture story of what insider corruption in government and the seedy-side of our business community looks like in PEI.
No. No, actually…It hasn’t Gone Away!
Islanders haven’t heard anything about this lawsuit against Dennis King in months. Many likely figured it evaporated as a false fluster, like such accusations and claims against politicians usually do.
One could forgive Islanders for holding to such a view, especially after seeing and hearing Premier King on CBC Compass confidently telling Islanders that the notion that there could possibly anything “untoward” happening with anything he was doing with gaming was completely laughable.
He went on to assure Islanders that there are ZERO grounds supporting any of the claims being made by Paul Maines. End of story.
The part where I laughed was when the Premier said he didn’t have access to that private, “non-government” email account with the PC Party that’s in question (dennis@peipc.ca), and claimed it has only ever been used for ‘blast’ emails to the PC membership.
Ha ha. That’s a good one. That’s when I laughed the hardest…a real blast, knowing, as a PC member who was getting those blast emails, that not a single one of them came with that email address!
If you’re a PC member reading, go do a search and find in your inbox to check for yourself. I get all those blast emails to the PC membership…and I double-checked…nope! No sign of dennis@peipc.ca.
Question: “Who gets a personal email with their name in it but makes sure in doing that they can’t access the account? Anyone? O.K., well move on.”
MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
After reading the 1000+ filing, I can tell you unequivocally that there’s been a LOT going on behind the scenes with this lawsuit!
There are some pretty shocking revelations in those pages!
The shock is in the particulars. The names named.
The candid things that those people who are named “say” (clearly never imagining for a second at the time their words might someday be attached to a court filing, then inserted as a graphic in my article).
Here’s how the court filing (amazingly) happened, and all of that new information became public.
SYNOPSIS OF WHAT’S BEING “ALLEGED” IN THE NEW COURT FILING
The filing by Maines is a Motion asking the Court to enforce (or, conversely, “set aside”) a Settlement Agreement that Maines’ legal counsel had previously signed with JR. The plan was to then release JR from the lawsuit as a Defendant.
Something happened. I don’t know what, but everything apparently went off the rails with the Settlement Agreement!
JR [“the Insider-turned-Whistleblower” – then, (maybe?) – “the whistleblower-turned-Insider”] suddenly didn’t have any documents!! More on that later.
Perhaps someone thought that the fallout would be so bad for Premier King [Premier King likely thought that at least], as well as the other Defendants, with what JR the whistle-blower was about to let loose, embarrassing and implicating a host of people in corruption in a secret group involved, people mentioned in documents, but not formally named in the legal action….one has to wonder if they somehow orchestrated a final play to make things “go away,” and somehow succeeded in “getting” to Jeffrey?
The argument might have went something like: [Someone to JR]:
“Just delete, delete, delete…then say that you don’t have any documents! You have a signed settlement Agreement in your pocket that releases you from any liability (so don’t worry, be happy). That Maines guy would be CRAZY to spend what would likely be in the neighbourhood of $100,000 with a new Motion to push the issue… since you’ll have deleted everything.”
What that 180-degree turnabout accomplished was to make it necessary – and also now “permissible” – for Maines to file this Motion, having to now prove to the court that the records that were promised in the Settlement Agreement do, in fact, exist.
To do that, Maines submitted tons of private communications he had with JR, all as evidence of an ongoing relationship with a bona fide whistleblower he believed was trying to help him get to the truth, expose corruption, all of which would certainly speed his main lawsuit against the provincial government.
Maines had to dump a big load of Insider Club dirty laundry in the courthouse to convince the Court that his lawsuit is not frivolous or vexatious – which Denny and the other Defendants are saying.
He had to do that to show that there are records supporting the claims that he made in the legal action against King et al., that they were using non-government means of communicating and doing business to keep gaming plans being made with a select group of non-government players “private”.
Proving that JR is indeed a whistle-blower with documents required putting – ON THE PUBLIC RECORD – hundreds of private FB messages, texts, emails, etc. that JR had communicated to Paul Maines since early 2020.
Perhaps JR thought that all those messages would all disappear when he deleted them from his end – which he apparently did – but for him not to consider the possibility that Paul Maines would think at the time that those messages may be important down the road and “screen capture” or otherwise save them…..well, that would appear to have been something of an oversight in the planning process involved with that puzzling and abrupt flip-flip on the Settlement Agreement!
THE “MOTHER OF ALL SERIES”
If you’re as old as I am, you’ll probably remember how the season-ending “cliff-hanger” with the wildly popular TV series “Dallas” left everyone asking for months – until the next season started actually, when it was finally revealed: “WHO SHOT JR?”
“The show’s third season ended with J.R. lying in a pool of blood and the world’s media wondering whodunit. It really was a global phenomenon…Three hundred million people tuned in nine months later to learn the answer to what they knew would one day become a classic trivia question.”
“The show’s third season ended with J.R. lying in a pool of blood and the world’s media wondering whodunit. It really was a global phenomenon…Three hundred million people tuned in nine months later to learn the answer to what they knew would one day become a classic trivia question.” [See: “How the Original Dallas Made TV Worse, June 13, 2012].
Jeffrey Warren Reynolds (“JR” in the court filings) was the whistle-blower who (so alleges Paul Maines) was brought into the inner circle of a secret group of people planning, with Premier King, to set up an online gaming scheme with Keith Laslop (Gamesys), Chris LeClair, Alan Campbell, and apparently a good number of other people you’ll learn about before too long as well.
The allegations made by Maines (based on what he learned from JR) is that communications and meetings were happening in secret on that Gamesys proposal, and that King had insisted that all the players who were involved use non-government means of communication (i.e., private emails) to avoid being discovered by – according to the sworn testimony in the court filings – ME!
Personally, I think JR shot himself, but not fatally….. just IN THE FOOT!
A TEASER (for starters)
There are LOTS of people mentioned in the court document as having some connection to this secret “behind-the-scenes” club, using FB messenger, sloppy grammar and spelling, saying things that Islanders NEVER get to hear…until now!
There are names you wouldn’t normally expect to see mentioned. People in the story never mentioned as being involved – like Finance Minister Darlene Compton’s husband, Russell; Margaret Anne Walsh, a Stewart McKelvey lawyer and core King supporter – she’ll be making an appearance in an episode or two as well, oh yeah…even Paul Biggar gets a mention in a fascinating communication with JR.
I’ll end this article launching this new series by whetting your appetite with just one paragraph from Maines’ Affidavit [I should point out that there are several other Affidavits that have been filed by others in support of this Motion, again, more on that later]…but for now…check out the intriguing exchange between former Liberal MLA, Minister of Justice and Attorney General [under Wade MacLauchlan] Jordan Brown and JR. Brown obviously worked very closely with Jonathan Coady on the defence of the egaming lawsuit when in government, so had info and no doubt connections, but what’s his business in egaming now? This court filing raises SO MANY QUESTIONS!
There are quite a few private exchanges between Brown and JR (now PUBLIC in the court filing): in this one, Brown suggests that Premier King might be able to help him out of his pickle. Hmm:
If Jordan Brown didn’t succeed in “…trying to make me deal”.…uh…..who did succeed JR?
When you blow whistles, they’re supposed to make a noise.
Despite what seems like a sincere play on the part of JR to expose corruption within the PEI government [He actually had ME in mind as (what seems like) a final part of that plan, which I’m assuming would be to make the information public, but I never did have that meeting he told me to “get ready for”].
Here’s one of those cryptic FB messages I received from JR on Islander Day, February 21, 2021, “out of the blue”:
I got a few other messages from JR, but they’d always just say that he had (for reasons never explained) identified me as someone he believed was to be an important player in his own crusade for government accountability, and waited for him to get back to me to set up a meeting. My response was always a simple, “…sure, let me know when you want to meet,” but he never did.
When I read the following in Maines’ affidavit, it tweaked my memory on one of those cryptic messages from JR where he also mentioned that he had been working on something for 16 months, and that somehow I was to play some final role in his grand plan.
Apparently, without any indication from me that I had any interest in fulfilling his prophetic sense of my calling to join his crusade (how could I have such interest?
I didn’t know what my ‘role’ was to be!) he was now sharing my “place” in his narrative with others…Maines at least. This from Maines’ Affidavit:
When he says, “Ultimately it’s emails that will flip the script,” he’s not wrong, and things were on track for that to happen, until of course he somehow slipped and flipped himself instead of the switch!
Then on April 20, 2021, I received another message from JR – something of a head’s up – still a bit cryptic and sparse on detail, but it did say that he was “…chasing something to help Paul Maines,” so I figured it had to do with egaming or egaming record destruction.
And then every so often, another reminder from JR that he hadn’t forgotten me [I had forgotten his outreach to me a couple of times between those messages from him – it’s hard to form a memory when there’s no “details” to build it with:
Get why I’m using the word “cryptic”?
I honestly don’t know what went on behind the scenes or in JR’s head to flip him completely, but it is going to be fascinating to find out.
And there’s no point speculating about it either, on whether he was bought, betrayed, bullied, or somehow bamboozled…. let’s just what to see what JR says under oath, which shouldn’t actually be that long of a wait.
What’s Premier King going to say about this new 1000-page filing?
Alan Campbell? He’s been mum so far.
And Chris LeClair?
I really can’t wait to hear the stream of “explanations”.…keep in mind, LeClair’s been hovering in the shadows with his buddy Keith Laslop [Newco back in 2012; “Gamesys” now] for a decade! Waiting patiently for online gaming to become legal in Canada [Which it did August, 2021], ready to pounce on the latest puppet premier to put the wheels in motion on their dream scheme.
If you don’t find it at least a tad peculiar that Chris LeClair was able to somehow resurrect Keith Laslop from the egaming grave he was buried in by Ghiz and Sheridan a decade ago….well, persistence usually pays off…maybe not this time though, eh Chris? Maybe not this time!
The Defendants – Campbell, LeClair, and King – have denied the claims that Maines has made, denials filed in their Defenses. They all loudly protesting – in print, Campbell and LeClair have been completely ‘mum’ publicly, denying nothing – that the lawsuit is groundless, vexatious, and represents a scurrilous attack on the good names of the Defendants (my take on their more polite and legal phrasing).
I guess we’ll see in time who’s telling the truth in time.
King says that he has never ever had access to his own email account. Hmmm…now that’s really odd, don’t you think?
Premier King also swears (literally, he filed a ‘quick-like-a-bunny’ affidavit response to the initial Notice – same day in fact) that he never instructed anyone to use non-government emails to prevent Maines and me from accessing documents of any kind, certainly not regarding the gamesys planning process, which King denies having any knowledge of, a planning process that was (allegedly) happening outside the normal, accountable, and transparent framework of government NOT producing government records available to Maines and me through FOIPP requests:
King has not only denied any and all involvement in any off-site discussions with anyone about Gamesys, but has gone further in sharing with the world his complete state of megabafflement at where any of this [..and by ‘this’ I’m assuming he means the allegations of pure skullduggery and a long list of despicable betrayals and crimes as per the Criminal Code of Canada] I’m thinking the information in the 1,000 pages should clear up some of that confusion for him:
If what has been filed doesn’t do the trick, I’m quite confident what comes out in cross-examinations will tweak a few memories!
I personally like to think of myself as a “professional” who has never shaken off completely the candor found in conversations of crews cropping (having grown up on a potato and grain farm in the weather capital of PEI – Maple Plains), but….what the heck, I’m going to share my “opinion” on the ultimate outcome for Premier King as a result of what’s coming down the pipe (and it ain’t no ‘itsy bitsy’ anything!). It’ll take me two paragraphs, so bear with me…here we go….
DONE
LIKE DINNER!
Just my opinion…we’ll see.
SUMMARY
Something clearly went wildly wonky with JR’s crusade to bring transparency and justice to the PEI government!
One could “theorize” till the cows come home what that poltergeist was – I’m going to wait for the sworn testimony, for the facts.
But I must say that I’m really curious why JR changed lawyers, with the lawyer he changed to now in hot water, is apparently in the process of being disbarred or severely disciplined for very un-lawyerly-like conduct. Now JR has apparently dropped him as well, and is hunting for counsel.
I don’t know who will – or would – be representing JR with a rock having just been tossed through a hornet’s nest (or rat’s nest) THAT BIG – but Godspeed to you my friend, Godspeed!
JR may have blown his whistle-blowing – but I’m so glad he did! What just happened with this filing is something that I’ve waited to see happen in PEI for a very long time. What happens next will be fascinating to watch – especially what happens when JR has to explain himself, limping into the cross-examination, still smarting something awful from the gunshot wound in the foot I suspect, because those cross-examinations are likely to happen soon, with something as time-sensitive as the need to preserve records (at company servers)!
It will be fascinating as well to see what the CBC, and Guardian, and Paul MacNeil have to say about the contents of that 1000+ document – what kind of stories will they pull out of it? Will they be jaw-dropping? Mine will be!
JR may have blown his whistle-blowing, but in the process, thanks to the doggedness of Paul Maines and his superior legal counsel, John Philips, and their Private Investigator Derrick Snowdy, JR may have blown the roof off, me thinks!
First he blows his foot off (as a whistle blower) but then blows the entire roof of the scandal anyways (as a super-whistle blower??) Was it a brilliant long-game strategy? Or a bad idea gone even badder? Don’t know. We’ll find out soon.
In the meantime, some (moral) target practice is clearly in order with the Reswarrior!
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What would we do without you Kevin?