Are the knives coming out now that somebody must be blamed? After two full years of hiding and denial, will David Flude the Principal Broker at Verico the Mortgage Station be forced to admit he knowingly allowed his brokers to defraud senior and veteran clientele who were buying a CHIP Reverse Mortgage from HomeEquity Bank? Will W. Mark Squire, President and CEO of Verico Financial Group Inc., be able to excuse his refusal to investigate fully supported allegations of fraud by usury that he knew were being committed by brokers working under the flag of Verico Financial Group Inc.? Will HomeEquity Bank finally act honourably?

Or will this be like a financial and banking industry slasher movie with every corporation for itself?

Apparently, Steven Ranson, the outgoing President and CEO of HomeEquity Bank, chose to turn a blind eye to the criminal activity that was without question his bank's responsibility to investigate. He evidently knew he was retiring, and that the crimes committed in the service of the Schedule 1 Canadian Chartered Bank would one day become somebody else's problem. The recipient of that gift was Katherine Dudtschak, the newly posted President and CEO, and given her reputation for charitable and humanitarian causes, it seems unlikely that this apparent socially responsible professional would be willing, or indeed ethically able, to maintain the status quo by letting the crimes slide in the hopes that one day we would just go away. We say good luck with that pipe dream.

We would have thought that fantasy would have died a natural death back in December of 2023, when David Flude, tried and failed to bully us into silence while hiding behind anonymity through the 'threat' of a contemptuous SLAPP lawsuit that we rebuked so fully with the facts and the law that the anonymous agent has never been heard from again. Also, six months later, despite the huff, puff, and bluff, no claim of any kind has been filed with any court, where rulings are made based on the evidence, and not by 'motivating' police detectives to omit evidence and falsify figures to help multi-million-dollar loan sharks to evade justice.

Such an in-house battle could get messy, because narcissists don't like women telling them what to do.

The brokers at Verico the Mortgage Station, and their allies at Verico Financial Group Inc. and HomeEquity Bank, know their options are limited. We have the evidence to support our allegations, and when they threatened us with vacuous bullying legal action, we invited them to file their claim(s). We bring to the court a solid 100% track record of success as self-represented litigants, with fifteen years of experience fighting abusive litigation just like what was proposed by the 'anonymous agent'. Those victories happened only because abusive corporations or individuals tried and failed to suppress our rights as journalists through unethical and unsupported litigation. This history includes successfully defending against an army of Bay Street lawyers to ensure our right to expose an employer who had defrauded about eight hundred employees, and flatlining a very experienced full partner of a highly respected Toronto law firm that clearly did not mind threatening abusive litigation in support of the wealthy landlords and corrupt corporations. They made the same mistake of threatening us for reporting the truth about a slumlord who contributed to the death of a disabled man, and we did not back down. Somebody had to speak for the victim of that abuse.

It is easy to understand why those people of wealth and power wanted to stop us from telling the truth, but officials and authorities were not lining up to help the victims, so we did what was necessary to ensure justice.

We are also professional communicators with considerable international experience in journalism and documentary production, who have worked in a wide variety of foreign locations, including war zones in Europe and the Middle East. We also have at our disposal our own independent media production facilities and broadcast quality studios that are second to none north of the GTA. If that is not enough, those facilities and studios support our own independent community media service that serves a respectable following in Simcoe County and beyond.

This is the story of a prolific liar who appears devoid of ethics, who has tried to con, to hide from, and then to bully the wrong people, while simultaneously being too stupid to acknowledge his multiple 'mistakes'.

We are also true philanthropists and altruists who have gifted more than $700,000.00 in services to our community through the donation of more than 350 fully donated fundraising and educational videos to greater than 180 local charities, not-for-profits, and benevolent community groups. That dedication to those in need led in 2021 to our producers being nominated and voted to the highest levels for an award for Altruism that was presented by the City of Barrie and the Greater Barrie Chamber of Commerce. We also volunteer our limited spare time to boots-on-the-ground street outreach to help Barrie's homeless community through the collection and distribution of food, clothing, and other necessities of life. Finally, we provide positive housing support within our studio and our Producer 's home to half a dozen of our most vulnerable members of society, regardless of race, creed, colour, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Our goal is to help them dig out of the hole caused by corrupt landlords, extreme poverty, injury or health issues, addiction, and spousal abuse.

We are sure David Flude will find it difficult to explain why he described our Producer as an 'agitator' within an email to a prospective client while attempting to cover his many legal and ethical transgressions.

We have never asked anything of these 'financial professionals' other than to join us for an on-camera interview through which we offered that if they have any tangible evidence, and they could disprove our allegations, we will stop researching and reporting on this story. While innocent people who truly believe they are being wrongfully accused would see this as an opportunity, all three of these multi-million and multi-billion-dollar companies chose instead to ignore our request, to not even reply to the shared client who was openly accusing them of fraud or compliance, and who they have ignored completely for two full years. The ONLY, message we have EVER received from ANY of the three corporations was when David Flude . . . sorry, his anonymous 'agent', emailed to threaten us with unethical Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (SLAPP) litigation, that has been denounced as abusive by the Supreme Court of Canada, if we did not stop telling the truth of his actions and those of his brokers, to which we responded, and scared him so much he never mustered the courage to file a claim in any court.

During the past two years, the bank and brokerage have all chosen hiding to protect their pride and arrogance, while ignoring multiple opportunities to defend their actions or discuss our claims.

Given this easily proven reality, is it highly unlikely that any true financial services professional, let alone one with 35 years in banking experience, is going to buy David Flude's claim of an 'agitator'. Let's also not forget that David Flude lied in writing to his client six times in two emails (Email 1) (Email 2) to evade investigation by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA). The Principal Broker at Verico the Mortgage Station also tried a confidence ploy on a potential new client who sought a mortgage of $800,000.00 but ended up taking her business and a commission of about $8,000.00 to another broker after calling out the repetitive liar and supporting the truth of our reports and videos. For those who have not read it, Elizabeth's rant was quite a roast.

"Mr. Flude. You truly must think people are stupid, and your explanation is insulting. After receiving your response I read everything Ironside posted about you and I watched all of his company's videos. His work is clean well produced and professional, unlike your accusations that appear vacuous unsupported and offensive to the intelligence of other people. If he was what you claim he would not be putting his name on his work, and you would have sued him a long time ago as he openly taunts you to do more times than I could count. I even went back to watch some of his other videos. The man has credentials from work all over the world and he was selected for an award for altruism in Barrie. nonetheless, you paint him as simply an agitator. You insult me sir as you do anybody to whom you tell that lie. You also fail to mention that those people he - agitated - all lost to his eviednce and several were convicted or fined as criminals. That means he was right, and it is why you will not fight him in court.. Have you watched any of the videos he has produced for the hundreds of charities that are not about your company? I doubt it, but I did. Not all 300 plus of them, but enough. He has worked with everybody from multiple mayors to the chiefs of police. That is one well-connected agitator. I once worked in the courts many years ago and clearly, your agitator is somebody who stands up as we all wish we could. I read through your cover story like you are stamped on tracing paper. As you can see I have copied this email in full to your agitator and i am granting Mr. Ironside my consent to use it as he wishes. I think he is doing a damned good job exposing you and your agents and I would even be happy to chat with him on camera. I am ever so glad I found his reporting about your business. I will also be asking if he can recommend an honest broker. Do not insult me again by trying to whitewash your actions. I will advise my friend of what I have learned and I doubt they will be coming to you for any renewals. i admit I have been angered by your deceptive response as i do not like being lied to. I do not want to hear back from you again. E."The full email can be found here.

Only a fool willingly follows the lead of a liar, and they will rightfully receive the reward they duly deserve.

Katherine Dudtschak has a decision to make; either to adhere to her public persona of altruism and caring about the community, which she can do by exercising her authority as President and CEO to out the perpetrators and perpetuators of these offences by cutting all ties with Verico the Mortgage Station and Verico Financial Group Inc. Alternatively, she can take the easy but short-lived route by joining the old boys club in hiding and turning a blind eye, while joining the chorus of the unethical self-serving cowards who defraud seniors and veterans while defunding essential services within their community. Of course, the existing and potential clients of this multi-billion-dollar bank, and all members of Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board who purchased the bank two years ago, can see that those are the same arrogant and immoral 'banking professionals' who grossly underestimated the reach and influence of our small, not-for-profit, social enterprise, community media service that has for two years exposed their crimes with impunity to tens of thousands of potential clients who are now going somewhere else for their mortgage financing.

We are open to seeing who Katherine Dudtschak really is, and what she will do, and we are equally willing to expose the hypocrisy of any façade should she not turn out to be who she claims to be.