MONTREAL – After months of silence, Steven Miller has finally come forward.
He invited Global News into his home Monday morning to tell his side of the story.
“Nobody wanted or expected things to come to an end this way,” he said.
“As disappointing as it is for my former clients, it’s disappointing for myself as well. They lost some things, I lost everything.”
“I’m not here to play a victim or ask for anybody’s sympathy. All I can do is provide everybody with the truth.”
Miller said he found out he owed money to Revenu Québec last July.
After fighting with them for a few months, he was forced to declare bankruptcy.
WATCH BELOW: In this extended interview, Steven Miller defends himself to Global’s Felicia Parrillo.
“My trustee and legal counsel offered proposals to Revenu Québec, all of which were refused,” he said.
Global News asked Miller why he continued to sign contracts with clients.
He said he was trying to finish the work he started but some factors were out of his control.
READ MORE: More people speak out against Steven Miller Landscaping
“In my line of work we can’t really work outside in the rain,” he said.
“That also created a lot of trouble. Also in June and July, we also had a substantial amount of rain in those two months. I have the weather reports with the exact millimeters to show each day.”
According to Miller, the company accumulated debt partly because some clients didn’t pay their bills on time.
“We had a very difficult time collecting our receivables,” said Miller.
“We had a very tough time and there’s not too much that I can very do, I can’t go to the door with a baseball bat and say ‘give me my money or else’ – you just can’t do that.”
Montreal police confirmed to Global News the complaint against Steven Miller Landscaping has been handed over to the fraud unit and the case is now officially under investigation.
READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE: Steven Miller Landscaping clients take their complaints to police
“It’s nice to know that it’s out of our hands and somebody is actually going to take care of what we all say we want to do but we don’t have the power to do it,” said Lissa Albert, a former client of Steven Miller Landscaping.
Although he could not comment specifically on the allegations against Miller, criminal lawyer Philip Schneider said fraud cases are taken very seriously if charges are brought to court.
READ MORE: Clients fuming after they say landscaper took their money and ran
“More and more the judges react into public reaction and also realizing that these kind of offences have disastrous consequences on the victims,” he said.
“More and more people are being sentenced to jail for these kinds of offences.”
The investigation is ongoing; no charges have been laid against Miller or his company.
Meanwhile, Miller is trying to move on and is now an employee at Syljack Inc., a West Island landscaping and snow removal company.
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