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companies would submit artificially high or low bids. The
fourth would submit the low and winning bid. The price
submitted for the bid included an amount used to pay the
managers of the other companies. The question before
the Court was whether the companies were criminally
liable based on the managers’ fraudulent activities.
[410] The Court held the corporate identification doctrine
applies where it is established that the acts taken by the
directing mind of a corporation was “not totally in fraud of
the corporation” and “was by design or result partly for
the benefit of the company”: pp. 713-14. A company will
accordingly be imputed with the knowledge of person
directing actions within the scope of his or her authority
unless that person was acting solely for their personal
benefit and against the company’s interests. Applying
this doctrine in Dredge, the Court dismissed the appeals.
It found that the managers had acted within the scope of
their authority and that the bid-rigging scheme did not
only benefit them personally but also their employers.
[411] The corporate identification doctrine applies in
cases involving civil fraud: DBDC Spadina Ltd. v. Walton,
2018 ONCA 60, 288 A.C.W.S. (3d) 75, at para. 59, citing
the Ontario Court of Appeal’s earlier decision in Standard
Investments Ltd. v. Canadian Imperial Bank of
Commerce (1985), 1985 164 (ON CA), 52 O.R.
(2d) 473, at para. 55, leave to appeal refused, [1986]
S.C.C.A. No. 29. In fact, the criteria for establishing that
company should be imputed with the knowledge of its
directing mind in civil cases is less onerous than in
criminal cases: DBDC Spadina, at para. 71.
[412] In the case of Golden Oaks, the Trustee has not
established that Lacasse acted solely to defraud the
company for his own benefit. Based on the Trustee’s
calculations, the Ponzi scheme attracted over $16 million
from investors. Of this, $7 million was used to pay other
investors, and Lacasse caused the company to pay him
a total of $1.3 million. The remaining funds were used for
the company’s operating expenses, the purchase,