Canadian Man Says He Burned $1 Million In Cash To Keep His Ex-Wife From Getting It

An Ottowa businessman (and failed mayoral candidate) named Bruce McConville is spending 30 days behind bars after refusing to file an affidavit regarding his finances and instead claiming he burned more than $1 million in cold hard cash to keep his ex-wife from having access to his money, taking pettiness to a whole new level.

1. McConville really, really didn’t want his ex-wife having any of his money. According to The Ottawa Citizen, he sold several properties and businesses without his ex’s knowledge. He then withdrew $1 from the sales and allegedly burned it in two separate bonfires, with $743,000 burning on September 23 and $296,000 going up in flames on December 15.
2. All of this was to avoid paying spousal and child support. The court wanted to find out exactly how much money Bruce McConville needed to pay every month not only to support his wife but their family as well, hence the reason they requested the financial disclosure affidavit. Authorities knew McConville had made “secret sales” and wanted the details to come to light.
3. He defied not one but two court orders. In addition to defying the court’s order to submit his financial records, he also completely disregarded their instructions not to sell any properties while this case was ongoing, but he did so anyway, apparently to his former accountant. McConville sounds like a really stand-up guy.
4. McConville insists that he’s not usually this petty. According to reports, the judge was taken aback when hearing Bruce McConville’s claim that he burned the money and asked for clarification. “Can I back you up a bit? When you say you destroyed it, what do you mean?” Superior Court Justice Kevin Phillips asked, to which McConville replied that he’d burned it. “It’s not something that I would normally do. I am not a person that is extremely materialistic. A little goes a long way. I have always been frugal. That’s why my business lasted for 31 years,” the 55-year-old continued.
5. The judge wasn’t buying the story. Phillips didn’t believe that either of these bonfires took place or that McConville would have burned such a significant amount of money just to spite his ex (and his children, for some reason). “I don’t believe you. I don’t trust you. I don’t think you’re honest,” the judge said. “I find what you have done to be morally reprehensible because what you claim to have done willfully and directly undermines the interests of your children.”
6. McConville has been sent to jail for 30 days. The judge determined that it was “crystal clear” that Bruce McConville “has very clearly and deliberately set out to thwart the court and the proper administration of justice” and sent him off to Innes Road jail to give him time to think about how he wanted to proceed. Phillips warned McConville that if he continues to lie and disobey court orders, the “penal consequences” he will face will make this little month-long sojourn behind bars seem like “a walk in the park.”
7. Better yet, he has to pay his wife in the meantime. The judge ordered Bruce McConville to pay $2,000 a day, or $14,000 a week, in fines directly to his wife until he meets court requirements and coughs up the truth about his finances. That money is separate from any spousal or child support he’ll owe. I bet he wishes he’d just been honest in the first place now!