La Passerelle, a Toronto agency that misused sports and concert tickets earmarked for children of low-income families, has lost its access to free passes to Raptors and Blue Jay games, concerts and other high-profile events.

Kids Up Front, the charity that distributes the donated tickets, “has terminated the agency agreement and its relationship with La Passerelle I.D.E. effective today,” executive director Lindsay Oughtred told the Star Tuesday. La Passerelle was one of the 350 agencies that received tickets from Kids Up Front, which has a mission to connect ticket donors with deserving individuals.

Kids Up Front has given La Passerelle 782 tickets with a face value of $54,000 in the last two years and first received them as far back as 2014. The tickets, donated by MLSE, corporations and private individuals, are only to be used to make a “dream come true” for children and youth under 18 whose families are experiencing economic difficulties, Oughtred said.

A Star investigation found what insiders at La Passerelle described as a “free for all,” where adults connected in some way to La Passerelle — including agency managers, staff, family of managers and staff, and visitors from France — were given thousands of dollars worth of premium tickets to Toronto events like Justin Timberlake and Taylor Swift concerts.

A visiting group of adult entrepreneurs from France received a block of 20 tickets for one of the concerts.

Léonie Tchatat, executive director of La Passerelle and her husband Guy Taffo, the agency’s accountant, both attended events using the tickets, according to their lawyer. The couple lives in a home in Rosedale, drive a Range Rover and a Mini Cooper Countryman, have property in Cameroon and lease a Muskoka cottage for six months of the year.

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Taffo took one of the couple’s sons to a Raptors game and another son to a separate game; Tchatat attended a classical music event and a dance event, according to the couple’s lawyer, Peter Downard.

In a brief statement to the Star Tuesday after learning of the Kids Up Front decision, Tchat said La Passerelle has told the charity “we regret our misunderstanding in this matter. We wish Kids Up Front the very best for the future.”

In earlier correspondence through their lawyer, Tchatat and Taffo said they, staff at La Passerelle and their family only used the tickets when they “would otherwise have gone unused.”

The Star was unable to determine how many tickets were misused, but seven insiders at La Passerelle told the Star they had been given tickets and witnessed others, including friends and family of Tchatat and Taffo, use the tickets. In photos obtained by the Star, adults affiliated with La Passerelle can be seen at various events, sometimes in seats near the front row and sometimes in corporate boxes.

Kids Up Front rules specify that if there is no interest in the tickets they are to be returned 24 hours before the event so that another agency can find a home for the ticket.

Kids Up Front began its own investigation six weeks ago after the Star first presented it with questions. That investigation ended Tuesday with the brief statement by its executive director, telling the Star that no more tickets would go to La Passerelle.

After the Star’s story was published on Monday, Tchatat issued a statement on its social media accounts saying that La Passerelle is working with Kids Up Front and is “confident that any misunderstandings will be resolved and put behind us.”

Tchatat accused the Star of seeking to “harm us” with its reporting.

In the Monday statement, Tchatat said Kids Up Front has been providing her agency with tickets since 2014 and that La Passerelle posts “availability” of tickets on Facebook and tickets have gone to “children, families and persons within the communities” her agency serves. She said tickets go to staff only when “tickets would otherwise go unused.”

According to Kids Up Front rules, partner agencies are only supposed to request tickets when they know who will be using them.

Other agencies that receive Kids Up Front tickets include ones that serve sick children or members of youth groups where families could not afford to take their son or daughter to a high-priced Raptors or Leafs game.

La Passerelle, which has a stated mission to help Francophone immigrants to Toronto find employment, does not typically deal with children.

In an interview at the couple’s Rosedale home, Taffo acknowledged he had attended Raptors games, but did not say how many. He said that if La Passerelle had not used the tickets, Kids Up Front would not give any the next time they made a request.

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The Star also asked whether it was appropriate for a family living in Toronto’s wealthy Rosedale neighbourhood to use the tickets.

“People who live in Rosedale, we are the ones who are giving,” Taffo said.

La Passerelle receives about $2 million in grants from federal, provincial and municipal governments, along with donations from charities including the United Way.

Kevin Donovan is the Star’s chief investigative reporter based in Toronto. Reach him by email at kdonovan@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @_kevindonovan

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