TORONTO – Rob Ford has been subpoenaed to testify in an extortion trial linked to the infamous video appearing to show the mayor smoking crack cocaine.
Ford’s lawyer Dennis Morris told Global News he’d been speaking with Toronto Police Detective Sergeant Gary Giroux about the subpoena more than a month ago.
“We had discussed this a month ago and then he went on holiday,” Morris said. “He returned and it was arranged.”
Morris said Ford was served the subpoena on Aug. 26 and is expected to testify in Sandro Lisi’s extortion trial in March 2015.
Lisi, Ford’s friend and occasional driver, is accused of using threats to obtain a video of the mayor allegedly smoking crack cocaine.
READ MORE: Crack-smoking Toronto mayor Rob Ford tells radio show he’s ‘not a criminal’
“It’s to embarrass Ford more than anything else,” Morris said of the subpoena notice.
Lisi was charged in October 2013 with trafficking in marijuana, possession of proceeds of crime, possession of marijuana and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence during an investigation into Ford which was initially sparked by the crack cocaine video.
Several media outlets reported earlier this summer that Ford was expected to be subpoenaed in the Lisi extortion case; then, Morris said it was only a “matter of time.”
The mayor’s brother, Doug Ford, then insinuated Toronto police Chief Bill Blair leaked the news to the media as “payback”.
Doug apologized for the comment, admitting he had no evidence suggesting it was true, after Blair served him with a defamation notice.
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