Seriously overdrawn accounts, a costly divorce and a host of client complaints to the law society have the lawyer arguing his own case on several fronts.
KENYON WALLACE / TORONTO STAR Order this photo
Tax lawyers Philippe DioGuardi, right, and father, Paul DioGuardi, left, who run the firm DioGuardi Tax Law, photographed outside their firm's offices in Mississauga.
By: Dale Brazao News, Kenyon Wallace News reporter, Rachel Mendleson News reporter, Published on Wed Feb 04 2015
“I don’t cheat, I change the game.”
That’s a claim made in a recent radio ad by Canada’s self-styled tax fighter Philippe DioGuardi, who with his father and law partner, Paul, presents a unified force against the “wolves” of the Canada Revenue Agency.
A Star investigation reveals Philippe has been fighting his own battles on four fronts: Paul says Philippe over-drew $2 million from their firm; his estranged wife wants spousal support of $25,000 a month; Ontario’s legal regulator is investigating nine complaints against him; and the tax lawyer has only recently settled his own $147,000 debt to the CRA.
DioGuardi, who says he has helped more than 8,500 clients over his career, traces some of his woes to the “lavish lifestyle” of the woman he met and married in Russia in 2003. DioGuardi’s affidavit filed in his divorce proceedings says wife Elena DioGuardi’s lifestyle included “countless plastic surgeries,” jewellery, luxury vehicles, fur coats and trips abroad. He also claims that Elena had been married twice before, including to a wealthy 70-year-old Californian whom she met through her profile on multiple “Russian bride” solicitation websites. In an interview with the Star, Elena DioGuardi took exception to her husband’s claims.
“He’s saying I’m a mail-order bride, and I’m going to say absolutely a different story,” said Elena, whose Facebook page includes numerous revealing glamour shots of herself. “He’s going to do anything or say anything just to make me feel bad or make me look stupid in front of the judge.”
Philippe DioGuardi has built his high-octane career as an “adversarial” tax lawyer through a slick multi-million-dollar, multimedia ad campaign, in which CRA officers are portrayed as shady characters in dark sunglasses. One commercial, posted on YouTube, features a tax agent being shot with paintballs in the face and chest, while a voiceover says, “At the first sign of tax trouble, fire back.”On DioGuardi law firm’s Facebook page, another ad features DioGuardi in a suit and slicked-back hair and proclaims simply: “Tax problems end here.”A recent DioGuardi radio ad says the CRA plays “Mr. Nice Guy to get details about your bank account and your house, and then sends in the wolves to seize your money and your assets.”
Some details of DioGuardi’s financial problems are contained in divorce proceedings ongoing in a Toronto court. Philippe and Elena DioGuardi began divorce proceedings in 2012. Both sides have provided information that is now in the public domain. Financial documents submitted by DioGuardi show that between the years 2009 and 2012, the firm had annual revenues of about $6 million, and spent about $2 million a year on advertising and marketing.
By 2012, DioGuardi’s overdrawing from his law firm account and marital problems prompted his father to characterize the situation as a “crisis.” The elder DioGuardi was forced to come out of retirement to take control of the firm they founded more than 10 years ago, change the signing authorities over the firm’s bank accounts, and put his son on a strict budget. In a handwritten letter labelled “Demand” dated Sept. 30, 2012, Paul tells Philippe he is aware that “you are having significant marital problems” and “you are grossly overdrawing on your monthly draws from the DioGuardi Tax Law firm.” The situation has “reached a crisis point,” the elder DioGuardi writes. “If these matters are not attended to promptly, I shall have to remove you as one of the executors of my and your mother’s will, and engage legal counsel to protect my rights. Please don’t make me take this step.”
The letter is signed: “Your Father.”
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...dioguardi-has-serious-battles-of-his-own.html
KENYON WALLACE / TORONTO STAR Order this photo
Tax lawyers Philippe DioGuardi, right, and father, Paul DioGuardi, left, who run the firm DioGuardi Tax Law, photographed outside their firm's offices in Mississauga.
By: Dale Brazao News, Kenyon Wallace News reporter, Rachel Mendleson News reporter, Published on Wed Feb 04 2015
“I don’t cheat, I change the game.”
That’s a claim made in a recent radio ad by Canada’s self-styled tax fighter Philippe DioGuardi, who with his father and law partner, Paul, presents a unified force against the “wolves” of the Canada Revenue Agency.
A Star investigation reveals Philippe has been fighting his own battles on four fronts: Paul says Philippe over-drew $2 million from their firm; his estranged wife wants spousal support of $25,000 a month; Ontario’s legal regulator is investigating nine complaints against him; and the tax lawyer has only recently settled his own $147,000 debt to the CRA.
DioGuardi, who says he has helped more than 8,500 clients over his career, traces some of his woes to the “lavish lifestyle” of the woman he met and married in Russia in 2003. DioGuardi’s affidavit filed in his divorce proceedings says wife Elena DioGuardi’s lifestyle included “countless plastic surgeries,” jewellery, luxury vehicles, fur coats and trips abroad. He also claims that Elena had been married twice before, including to a wealthy 70-year-old Californian whom she met through her profile on multiple “Russian bride” solicitation websites. In an interview with the Star, Elena DioGuardi took exception to her husband’s claims.
“He’s saying I’m a mail-order bride, and I’m going to say absolutely a different story,” said Elena, whose Facebook page includes numerous revealing glamour shots of herself. “He’s going to do anything or say anything just to make me feel bad or make me look stupid in front of the judge.”
Philippe DioGuardi has built his high-octane career as an “adversarial” tax lawyer through a slick multi-million-dollar, multimedia ad campaign, in which CRA officers are portrayed as shady characters in dark sunglasses. One commercial, posted on YouTube, features a tax agent being shot with paintballs in the face and chest, while a voiceover says, “At the first sign of tax trouble, fire back.”On DioGuardi law firm’s Facebook page, another ad features DioGuardi in a suit and slicked-back hair and proclaims simply: “Tax problems end here.”A recent DioGuardi radio ad says the CRA plays “Mr. Nice Guy to get details about your bank account and your house, and then sends in the wolves to seize your money and your assets.”
Some details of DioGuardi’s financial problems are contained in divorce proceedings ongoing in a Toronto court. Philippe and Elena DioGuardi began divorce proceedings in 2012. Both sides have provided information that is now in the public domain. Financial documents submitted by DioGuardi show that between the years 2009 and 2012, the firm had annual revenues of about $6 million, and spent about $2 million a year on advertising and marketing.
By 2012, DioGuardi’s overdrawing from his law firm account and marital problems prompted his father to characterize the situation as a “crisis.” The elder DioGuardi was forced to come out of retirement to take control of the firm they founded more than 10 years ago, change the signing authorities over the firm’s bank accounts, and put his son on a strict budget. In a handwritten letter labelled “Demand” dated Sept. 30, 2012, Paul tells Philippe he is aware that “you are having significant marital problems” and “you are grossly overdrawing on your monthly draws from the DioGuardi Tax Law firm.” The situation has “reached a crisis point,” the elder DioGuardi writes. “If these matters are not attended to promptly, I shall have to remove you as one of the executors of my and your mother’s will, and engage legal counsel to protect my rights. Please don’t make me take this step.”
The letter is signed: “Your Father.”
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...dioguardi-has-serious-battles-of-his-own.html
