CALGARY – Bernard Callebaut and his wife Francesca will have to pay nearly $150,000 after a judge found they removed assets – including chocolate – from their former company after it was placed in receivership.
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Barbara Romaine found the couple in contempt of the receivership order and ordered them to pay $99,150 in restitution for the goods taken – most of which have since been returned – as well as legal costs for the receiver and Chocolaterie Bernard Callebaut.
She also levied a $50,000 penalty, calling the Callebauts’ actions “wrongful and a serious breach of the receivership order.”
Romaine, issuing her decision Thursday morning, said while the Callebauts’ expressed “a number of rationalizations” for their behaviour, “it comes down to a sense of entitlement.”
Bernard Callebaut started Chocolaterie Bernard Callebaut in Calgary more than 25 years ago, expanding to retail outlets and a network of independent stores.
Last summer the company was placed into receivership and Callebaut failed in a bid to buy it back.
A numbered company, backed by former Callebaut vice-president of operations Brian Beck and Mike Freeland, a dealer who owns three stores in Edmonton, was successful and now operates Chocolaterie Bernard Callebaut under its original name.
Bernard Callebaut launched a new chocolate company in December, using, the court heard, the chocolate and moulds to shape chocolates he removed from his former company.
Calgary Herald
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