The HomeEquity Bank, which caters to seniors seeking to remain in their homes, have been at the centre of this story since day one, as it was their CHIP Reverse Mortgage that was used by the brokers at Verico the Mortgage Station to coerce loan shark levels of interest and fees from our Producer . Under Steven Ranson, the well-established President and CEO, their management team, under the direction of Yvonne Ziomecki-Fisher, Executive Vice President, Marketing & Sales, did NOTHING to investigate the criminal acts or to protect the financial security of their client, a senior and veteran. Instead, they chose to ignore the evidence provided, mirroring the see-no-evil tactics of the 'motivated' detectives of the South Simcoe Police and the 'couldn't care less' councillors of Simcoe County Council. HomeEquity Bank refused to acknowledge the complaint which according to their own public propaganda should have been resolved pursuant to a structured process. In truth, the only action taken by HomeEquity Bank was to try to censor our reporting in a way that is not legal when dealing with media in Canada.

As a registered financial institution, the HomeEquity Bank had an obligation to investigate claims of fraud.

Earlier this year, it was announced that Steven Ranson was retiring, and shortly thereafter it became public that Katherine Dudtschak had been hired first as President, and as of July 1st, 2024, also CEO of HomeEquity Bank. Based on her extensive experience and her commitment to her community, we see Ms. Dudtschak, which according to multiple official posts can also be spelled 'Dudstchak', as potentially a bright light in a dark room. Not only does she sit on the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee of United Way, Toronto, and on the board of directors for Jack.org, but she is also an inspirational leader for youth within the transgender community, which we also very much support. The different spellings of her name might be due to her being a transwoman with a name that originates from Germany, where nouns can be masculine of feminine. That is speculative, but it is rooted in an experience-based understanding of foreign onomatology.

So, we introduced ourselves to Ms. Dudtschak, and relayed to her a few facts about the loan sharks who her new management team have been protecting for almost two years, hoping she might change the status quo.

Katherine Dudtschak President and pending CEO
HomeEquity Bank
Royal Bank Plaza, South Tower, 200 Bay St. Suite 3500, Toronto, ON, M5J 2J1
June 10, 2024

Good afternoon, Ms. Dudtschak:

I trust you are well, and I hope you had a great weekend. Please be at ease, as I have no grievance with you. I fully understand that you are not responsible for the choices made by the management team of HomeEquity Bank after they were notified about the criminal and ethical abuses of trust undertaken by the brokers of Verico the Mortgage Station, which occurred while they arranged a mortgage through HomeEquity Bank that closed on May 17, 2022.

By way of introduction, I am the principal producer of community programming for Five Points Media, a 10-year established benevolent, not-for-profit-motivated, social enterprise media service located in Barrie. The service exists to help those in need, and to support people who cannot defend themselves against abuses by the influential and wealthy. I also freely identify myself as the creator of the documentary in production about mortgage fraud in Canada that due to the actions of others is focused heavily on the unethical decisions made by the HomeEquity Bank.

In May of 2022, I signed up for a CHIP Reverse Mortgage provided by the HomeEquity Bank that was brokered through licensed brokers at Verico the Mortgage Station, located in Lefroy. That process was artificially and unnecessarily extended from a promised three weeks to nine, without explanation other than to blame HomeEquity Bank multiple times. That lack of explanation was, as the evidence supports, all part of a scam to set me up for usury, or loan sharking, on a short-term bridge loan that ended up costing me 198.25% in interest and fees.

The brokers at Verico the Mortgage Station also, through their groundless delays, caused the near closure of Five Points Media, through which we have donated more than $700,000.00 in services to our community through the gifting of greater than 350 promotional and educational videos to a minimum of 180 local charities, not-for-profits, and benevolent community groups. In 2020, at the peak of the pandemic, our commitment to our community resulted in our crew being nominated and voted to the highest levels for a city-wide award for altruism that was presented by the City of Barrie and the Greater Barrie Chamber of Commerce.

Below is the content of an email I sent to broker Lisa Purchase on May 09, 2022, which has been public and uncontested since June 18, 2022. This slipshod service was being undertaken in the name of HomeEquity Bank.

"Well, this is frankly unbelievable. If I ran my business like this, I would have been out of business years ago. Now, apparently due to the oh so many delays, the interest rate is about a point higher. I can only guess how much that will cost me . . . Now, also, you need ANOTHER week to make this happen. It was supposed to be two to three weeks, which became a month, which became six weeks, that is now seven weeks. The loan of $2000.00 that was made based on a 10% monthly interest rate, 120% per year, is now suddenly going to cost me $2500.00? On Monday, another payment is due on my existing mortgage, which I do not have as I have sunk everything available to me into the renovations that started six weeks ago. On that note, I no longer have a kitchen or a front bathroom because I took your final day of April 29th seriously. Apparently, I was the only one. . . You don't seem to understand that I am now completely devoid of funds and am still needing to move forward on the renovations per a pre-existing schedule due to contractually binding obligations regarding the use of the studios. If these delays continue I am going to be sued. I have tapped every resource I have and by next Friday I will not have enough money to feed my dogs. I do note also that the date of next Friday is approximate. So that likely means another week." Lisa Purchase's only reply was to agree with my allegations, while deflecting blame to the HomeEquity Bank: "I agree with everything you have said. This is unacceptable and if there was any way I could have sped things up, I would have".

As you are a financial expert with extensive experience working with mortgages and interest, you will know that the rate of interest charged, arranged for by broker Lisa Purchase and undertaken by broker Renee Dadswell, is not only a crime, but is an indictable offence that carries with it upon conviction a prison term of up to five years. There is no grey area in the assessment of the criminality, and given that both of these brokers are licensed by the province and accountable to the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA), any legitimate investigation by law enforcement officers who are not 'motivated' to help the multi-million-dollar loan sharks would likely have called for the highest of accountability for the multiple breaches of public trust that were used against a senior who was struggling to be able to further assist his community, making him feel compelled to sign with HomeEquity Bank.

Is that really the reputation you want for HomeEquity Bank as you assume the position of highest authority, which you have earned through hard work, long hours, and determination? Do you want to be seen as siding with dishonest brokers who double as loan sharks so they can defraud seniors through the arrangement of the CHIP Reverse Mortgage from HomeEquity Bank, or would you rather be seen as an uber legitimate financial institution that protects the financial security of their especially vulnerable senior clients? Isn't your entire corporate image built around the concepts of ethics and caring about seniors? If HomeEquity Bank truly believe the brokers at Verico the Mortgage Station, your management team would have demanded a without prejudice meeting rather than continue to be tarred and feathered next to them, or your lawyers would have initiated civil action of sought injunctive relief as the brokers threatened to do but faltered at the gate when advised they had to prove their claims using evidence.

Given the time frame of our documentary, which is being marketed to both broadcast and online streaming services, you are at a branch in the road, and you have a clear choice between the paths of living up to your corporate image or being seen by seniors as the worst option for their retirement. Until now, at least regarding this matter, HomeEquity Bank has chosen the path of darkness, no doubt motivated by a desire for profit. That choice was also likely based on lies told to senior management who now should be seeing the truth but do not know how to reset their course. Your corporation has done nothing to me but ignore my fully supported complaints, so why is HomeEquity Bank so eager to send their image down with the ship?

From what I have read of your resume, you are a good person. You care about our community and those who live with in it. In that, we have common ground. Your positions on the boards of directors of several altruistic organizations says volumes about your character, and I believe we could meet under an agreement of détente. To the best of my knowledge, you have done no wrong to me or any seniors in Simcoe County. So, I have no desire to complicate your professional life as you settle into what is likely to be a change for the better in ethics under your tutelage, and a return to a corporate culture that HomeEquity Bank has claimed but not exercised.

Your potential clients can see that pathological levels of lying and hiding are the only quarrels contained within the quiver of the brokers at Verico the Mortgage Station. As for W. Mark Squire, President and Chief Operating Officer at Verico Financial Group Inc., I have no idea how he sees his misguided loyalties helping his business. Clearly, from the messages and emails we have received, his choices are not popular with many of the other brokers working under the Verico banner who are being painted by public perception with the same brush as their loan sharking and pathologically lying counterparts at Verico the Mortgage Station.

We are open about who we are, and we have offed freely to share our evidence. Meanwhile, David Flude and his brokers at Verico the Mortgage Station could barely muster the courage to send via a generic email account an anonymous whiney 'ultimatum' of litigation that they have lacked the courage to argue based on the evidence in any court of law. Their anonymous agent also claimed to be able to easily stop us from reporting this fully-supported story through injunctive relief. However, as seems true of everything said by the brokers at Verico the Mortgage Station, that 'threat' was also a lie, and it is quite clear that we are the only ones who are willing and indeed eager to have this matter argued, based solely on the evidence, before a learned Justice of the Superior Court.

We are also aware that dozens of lawyers, based in Ontario, Manitoba, and even the United States (see https://themortgagestation.tv/index.html March 01 2024), have visited our website, and how they have all run away after learning we have considerable personal experience and a one hundred percent success rate when defending against abusive Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (SLAPP) civil claims as self-represented litigants. In one case, the corrupt corporation we were exposing hired nine lawyers from three Bay Street law firms so they could spend $400,000.00 in legal fees and lose $500,000.00 in income as caused by our fully supported reporting of their abuse of litigation. That was 14 years ago, so you have to allow for inflation to calculate the true cost of abusing the purpose and intent of the civil litigation, and also take into account multiple rulings since by the Supreme Court of Canada which prevent the wealthy from abusing litigation to bully their victims into silence. We won then, and now the court is more favourable to the true victims of abusive litigation. Does HomeEquity Bank really want to test those very public waters just to stand in support of loan sharks who defrauded their own client, a senior?

I am sure that two years ago nobody could conceive of this story still being active and public, but as is true of all good causes, I do not quit until the abuses are fully exposed. I keep no secret of the fact I was arrested for exposing the story of a corrupt local politician, or that I have challenged the abuses of politicians, police officers, and corrupt corporations. Currently, I am exposing illegal abuses of our homeless population by the mayor and council. What is important is that I have never been convicted of any crime, I have not lost a single court case in the Superior Court where evidence is all that matters, and I have never been silenced by threats, including by three drive-by shootings perpetrated against our studio by no-maskers and anti-vaxxers who did not like us reporting the facts.

So far, my requests for feedback from official sources have been stone walled, which I have noted in my reporting. All that does to me is to inspire me to hit harder and publicly expose the new abuses. Regardless of who is financing and instigating such illegitimate protection, all parties involved, including HomeEquity Bank, are being seen by the public as birds of a feather working together in a corrupt manner to defraud seniors. This has been caused by the shared refusal to accept responsibility for the collective actions of the brokers of Verico the Mortgage Station, Verico Financial Group Inc., and HomeEquity Bank. How long will HomeEquity Bank stand by and bear responsibility, damage to their reputation, and financial losses caused by the self-serving actions of subcontractor brokers?

The facts are public and have not been contested by any identifiable person who is connected to this story. As such, your corporation has no reason to stand with the brokers of HomeEquity Bank other than a desire for profit. Which would have the greatest effect on you bottom line; being seen as ethical, or viewed as in league with loan sharks and pathological liars? On one side, you have a philanthropist who gives everything back to his community, who has been acknowledged and presented with multiple awards for his altruism. On the other, you have a broker who charged indictable offence levels of interest and fees on a short term loan, her colleague who made the loan sharking necessary by deliberately stalling the payout of the mortgage without explanation, and their boss, the Principal Broker, who has admitted he knew about the loan sharking, that he did nothing to prevent it, and actually defended the criminal abuse of the law and the ethics of his provincially licensed brokerage.

All I have ever asked for is an on-camera interview, to which Steven Ranson originally appeared amicable, at least until he learned of the focus of the production. Since then, no member of the management team of board of directors of HomeEquity Bank has been willing to discuss the matter. As you are now assuming the top positions, there is no need for you to continue policies that frankly provide HomeEquity Bank with no benefit while the facts drag your corporate reputation through the mud as caused solely by the actions of your management team's decision to listen to the brokers at Verico the Mortgage Station. Will you be the one to step up and break the walls behind which your corporation has been hiding from a small, not-for-profit, benevolent community media service that donates all services to those in need, or will the HomeEquity Bank continue to be seen as the elephant that is clearly terrified of the mouse?

As Elizabeth noted after she felt she had been lied to by David Flude, people are not 'stupid', and the excuses being used by the brokers at Verico the Mortgage Station to explain away our production are 'insulting' and libelous. While acting as agents for HomeEquity Bank, Renee Dadswell, Lisa Purchase, and David Flude stole from me through direct action and by omission, and they continue to retain some of the money. They also caused considerable harm financially that almost caused the closure of our benevolent community service, Five Points Media. Worst of all, if they will do this to me, all seniors are at risk, and I feel an obligation to warn as many as I can. For these reasons, the exposure will continue until such time that I believe justice has been served, instead of being deflected by entrusted officials who were 'motivated' to slip these criminals a pass on a serous indictable offence. Our seniors and veterans deserve to be protected, and if the police and council won't do so, we will.

It does not require membership in Mensa to understand why the brokers at Verico the Mortgage Station and their allies, which currently include the HomeEquity Bank, have taken no civil action, as they have made the claim of libel with neither evidence nor fortitude of character. Similarly, detectives of the South Simcoe Police Service and the councillors of Simcoe County Council have chosen not to abuse the criminal justice system as a means to silence the online exposure in support of our socially poignant documentary. After all, we have been predicting and prepared for both actions for almost two years, knowing that we have the evidence to prove the crimes and abuses of ethics which in civil court would result in a ruling of abusive litigation, and a dismissal of any charges in the criminal venue.

Few self-represented defendants have defeated nine lawyers from three Bay Street law firms, or been the apparent cause of an abusive detective being reduced to the evidence room, or caused a vexatious litigant to be ruled as such by the Superior Court. I have done all those things and more.

I have been a soldier, a photojournalist overseas, a combat videographer, and an activist riding shotgun in a Zodiac recording environmental abuses. I have been arrested, threatened, and detained simply for exercising my right to tell the truth. I do not quit, nor yield, nor kowtow to intimidation, and I will hold the corrupt and abusive accountable until the matter is resolved. At this point, it is up to you to decide for how long your company will be seen as a corrupt partner to loan sharks rather than as a corporation that supports their especially vulnerable elderly clientele.

Your appointment represents the possibility of a clean slate for HomeEquity Bank, or at least a chance for redemption in the public eye. The only alternative is continuing the status quo and increasing a loss of position within the market as HomeEquity Bank continues to be the brunt of abuse by competitors who are absolutely profiting from the decision by HomeEquity Bank to side with the loan sharks rather than protect their senior clients.

I sincerely hope we can set up a time to discuss on camera your company's involvement so far and your forward vision for HomeEquity Bank.

Sincerely,
John Ironside
Producer, Five Points Media