Company’s former CEO denies embezzlement claims, files counterclaim

A FORMER chief executive officer accused in a lawsuit of embezzling funds from a multimillion-dollar business that benefits charities is denying the allegations and claims he is owed more than $300,000 in unpaid wages and other expenses.

In a statement of defence and counterclaim filed in Manitoba Court of King’s Bench on Friday, Nicholas Tenszen, a co-founder and former CEO and president of Funding Change, said while shareholders were told he had embezzled company funds, an independent audit determined he hadn’t and that the company owed him money.

Tenszen said in his filed statement of defence the company hasn’t corrected the “unfounded embezzlement allegations,” which ended up in media reports.

“The false and uncorrected accusations of embezzlement have harmed (Tenszen’s) reputation and livelihood,” the court papers say.

Tenszen also accuses David Asper, the company’s largest shareholder and board chairman, of reporting Funding Change’s accounting practices to the Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba in an effort to force out him and other founding members from the board.

Tenszen claims not only did LGCA not revoke Funding Change’s licence, it also found no raffle funds were unaccounted for.

He is seeking unpaid wages of $296,318.26, unreimbursed expenses of $9,802.93, at least $100,000 in general damages for defamation and harm to his reputation, and at least $50,000 in aggravated and punitive damages. He also wants the company to correct “misstatements,” including embezzlement.

In a statement, Asper said both the lawsuit against Tenszen and the disclosure to LGCA came after an internal investigation by the company.

“At the time, Tenszen was the sole operator and controller of the activities of Funding Change,” Asper said.

“The LGCA conducted a thorough investigation, including an audit, and determined that the company had been in breach of its obligations under Tenszen’s leadership. It specifically barred Tenszen from having anything to do with the business.”

Asper said he also, through his company Sensible Capital Corp., paid “a substantial amount of money to rectify the issues to ensure that charities were made whole.

“Funding Change remains confident in the merits of its litigation against Tenszen and views the statement of defence and counterclaim as an expected part of the legal process.”

A 2017 profile by the Free Press detailed how Funding Change helps organizations, including local hockey teams, other non-profits and businesses, raise cash online through raffles and lotteries.

Last month, the company launched a lawsuit against Tenszen, alleging he had not only taken money from the company’s accounts to pay for his own wages, but had also used money held in trust funds to “pay operational expenses of Funding Change, thereby breaching Funding Change’s trust obligations and the terms and conditions of the licence.”

The LGCA confirmed it subsequently issued a compliance order on Funding Change on July 12, 2024, which restricted the firm’s operations until the investigation was conducted. It later issued a one-year licence renewal with “special terms and conditions that create greater oversight by the LGCA”.

Tenszen, who said Asper and the rest of the board received weekly and annual reports, also claims the company caused him tax problems when it issued a T4 slip that stated his income was $190,000 when he had only been paid $27,000.

He claims he had been working with Funding Change to resolve the wage and loan issues from 2024 until the company filed the lawsuit.

“The conduct of (Funding Change) and Asper was oppressive, unfairly prejudicial, and contrary to Sec. 234 of the Corporations Act,” the court document says.

“False allegations of fraud and misconduct were advanced in the statement of claim, circulated among shareholders, and republished in the press, causing reputational damage and loss of business opportunity.”

The allegations in the statements of claim, defence and counterclaim have not been proven in court.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca