Ex-Lightning Co-Owner Under Investigation

((HT: GlobeSports/Shoalts))
We've covered the exploits and shenanigans of the Tampa Bay Lightning ownership pairing in the past.

One owner got the chance to buy out the other. The owner of the first part couldn't get his financing together, so now its the other owner's turn to try and get financing to buy the owner of the first part out once and for all..

Sound confusing...???

It is...

Len Barrie was supposed to get the first dibs on buying out Oren Koules. Barrie was supposed to get financing help on a British Columbia development from a Dubai-based outfit. It hasn't happened... to the tune of US$350-million of not happening.

So, now Barrie is getting his books looked at by the Canada Revenue Agency after a former auditor pretty much yelled shenanigans...

It's like having the IRS look at your books in the States... and we all know how that goes... guilty until proven innocent.

The auditor claims that Barrie financed his Lightning stake with funds from his Bear Mountain development project.

Koules has even moved down to Tampa to keep a restrictive-financial eye on things.
He's still looking for a dance partner, but hasn't found one yet, either.

Those of us at OSG HQ are doing the math: Florida, Atlanta, Tampa, Columbus, Phoenix, the Islanders, Nashville...

Should we stop...???

Barrie Probably Giving Up Bolts Share First

((HT: GlobeSports/Shoalts))

...a person with knowledge of how the buyout agreement was set up confirmed the reason Barrie ((pictured, thanks CP)) was allowed to go first is because no one thinks he can pull it off.

If he can't, then Bettman can say: “Len, you had your chance and now we'll turn things over to Oren.” If Koules went first and was successful, Barrie could have claimed he was not given a fair chance.

Soon all that will be left is the question of how a league that supposedly put in new, tough due-diligence procedures with the arrival of the Lightning co-owners last year did not see anything wrong with someone whose net worth was tied up in a real estate gamble.

It looks as if Barrie has to drop out before his September deadline because he is fighting to save that gamble – a massive development near Victoria called Bear Mountain.

Like many real estate developers, Barrie and his 17 investors – who include current and former NHL players such as Mike Vernon, Gary Roberts, Joe Nieuwendyk, Ray Whitney, Rob Blake, Ryan Smyth, Sean Burke, Rob Niedermayer, Scott Mellanby, Matt Pettinger and Trevor Kidd – were whipsawed by falling prices and the drying up of bank credit.

Some of those investors are angry and some are not, but they all have two things in common: They are not talking about it and all fervently hope Barrie can pull a rabbit out of his hat. He needs to work out a new financing deal on the 500-hectare development that includes two golf courses, a resort, hotel and as many as 5,000 condominiums, townhouses and residential lots.

Barrie announced recently that he got a Dubai-based investment firm to go in with him on Bear Mountain to the tune of $350M. Siraj Capital gets their money back and a 25-percent stake when Barrie sells all the housing units.

Shoalts says their religion "forbids" interest payments...
How wild is that...???
It's up-front or it's a sin...
Neat...

Those of us at OSG HQ think Barrie is screwed in more than one direction on this one... and he can't afford to mess anything else up anymore...

There's also talk that Anthony Sansone, Junior is looking to get in on the Bolts. He can't say anything. Koules and Barrie can't say anything. But, apparently, he was kicking the tires over the weekend. He was also interested in the St Louis Blues a few years back...