Article content continued

Peter Goudas says in an affidavit filed in the bankruptcy proceedings that he met Simmonds in 2014: “I was told he was a wealthy, sophisticated, successful businessman.

“He persuaded me that he would be able to grow Goudas Food Products into a billion dollar business,” Goudas says. The offer was conditional on approval from the Royal Bank. Goudas said the bank told him he could trust Simmonds.

“My contact at RBC, Donna O’Reilly, advised me that RBC had investigated John Simmonds, that he was a highly regarded businessman, that the deal was a fair one, and that RBC would be prepared to consent to a change of control in favour of Simmonds’s company,” Goudas says in the affidavit.

“I now realize that Simmonds is a serial fraudster who is primarily in the business of pumping and dumping penny stock of companies he controls.”

The court last week released Simmonds on bail into the custody of one of his daughters. He is living under house arrest while awaiting trial. He told the Financial Post that he is innocent.

“I didn’t steal any money,” he said. “Never stolen a dime in my life from anyone.”

Mark Hamill, a spokesman for Royal Bank, said, “This is before the courts so I can’t comment.”

The Royal Bank in court documents says that it did not recommend that Goudas sell to Simmonds. The bank said Goudas met RBC representatives in March of 2014 “to inform RBC that he wished to sell his ownership interest in Goudas” to Simmonds.