Features
Do you want a challenge? Try opening a restaurant in Mexico – four different times in six years
By BERNIE BELLAN In December 2021 Myron Love wrote a story for The Jewish Post & News about former Winnipegger Megan Kravetsky.
How I happened to give Myron that particular assignment was an interesting story in itself. I had begun delivering Meals on Wheels for the Gwen Secter Centre in the summer of 2021 – which, if you can recall, was a period when we were still enduing periodic shutdowns due to Covid. As a result, the Gwen Secter Centre stepped up the number of meals that it began producing – not only for Jewish clients, but for hundreds of non-Jewish clients as well.
I wrote several times about the incredible effort that the staff at Gwen Secter put into producing what ultimately became over 600 meals a week, but that’s not the point of this story. This story is about food though, so there’s a connection.
In any event, beginning in the fall of 2021 I began delivering kosher meals for Gwen Secter on a weekly basis to a number of clients, some of whom some have remained on my list ever since.
One of those clients was a woman by the name of Joanne Field. Like most of my Meals on Wheels clients I developed a nice rapport with Joanne. One day she asked me if I’d be interested in doing a story about her granddaughter, whose name she told me, was Megan Kravetsky. According to Joanne, Megan had been operating a popular restaurant in Puerto Vallarta by the name of Blake’s Bar & Grill, and Joanne thought that readers of the paper who might be heading to Puerto Vallarta that winter would be interested in dropping into Blake’s.
As it turned out, I asked Myron Love to do that story instead of doing it myself because we were coming up to our Chanukah issue at the time and I didn’t have time to talk to Megan and write a story – but I did think that the Chanukah issue presented the perfect opportunity to let readers know about Megan and her restaurant.
That was in December 2021 and, even though my wife and I have been to the Puerto Vallarta area several times – and really love it there, what with Covid putting a crimp in travel plans for several years, it wasn’t until this year that I had the opportunity to head back to Puerto Vallarta. While I was there, I thought, I’d like to touch base with Megan and visit Blake’s myself.
Which is how I came to do a completely different type of story than I expected to write.
You see, Megan Kravetsky’s experiences in Mexico can fill a book – and a good part of that would be a horror story. Try this one on for size: Not only was her business badly affected by Covid in 2020 – just after she had moved into what was then the second location for Blake’s – after having moved from the first location because it was just too small – this past October, after having moved yet again into a different location for Blake’s in what Megan thought was going to be a great location – Hurricane Lidia swept through Puerto Vallarta and Blake’s was forced to close down.
Still, Megan persevered. She had opened another small pop-up restaurant last May called Drop Shot Chill n Grill in an area well known to many Winnipeggers who spend time in Puerto Vallarta, near what is known as the hotel zone. But, in another series of unfortunate circumstances, this time having to do with a very nasty landlady (who repeatedly cut off the electricity to Drop Shot), Megan was forced yet again to close down.
Read on and you’ll find out about the long string of unfortunate events that seem to have accompanied Megan ever since she decided to move to Mexico in 2018, but once you finish reading the story you’re bound to have an immense amount of admiration at how resilient Megan has proven to be.
Here’s some of what Myron wrote in his December 2021 story: “Three years ago, the veteran chef and restaurant consultant came across a deal she couldn’t refuse when she took advantage of an opportunity to buy Blake’s Restaurant and Bar, an established operation in Puerto Vallarta. Megan is now happily living year round in Mexico.
“Now, in truth, the former River Heights kid (Brock Corydon and Grant Park) was no stranger to the Mexican resort community. She notes that her parents, Charles (whose mother is Joanne Field) and Vivian Kravetsky, are long time seasonal residents of the city – spending six months a year there and six months in Winnipeg – and she had visited many times over the years.
“ ‘It was perfect timing,’ she says of her move to Puerto Vallarta.
“ ‘The first year was tough,’ she adds. ‘My Spanish was limited – which made it sometimes difficult to communicate with my staff. Now I am fluent.’
“Kravetsky notes that her original career goal was to become a lawyer (like her father). ‘After five years of university (the University of Manitoba), I realized that that was not what I wanted to do, she recalls.
“Instead, she earned a business degree in management and marketing and went to work in the restaurant industry. She had worked in the restaurant trade part time throughout university. Over the next 15 years, Kravetsky worked successively for the McDonalds chain, Moxie’s, the Olive Garden and Montana Steak House.”
Before I met with Megan on March 16 – at the location of the most recent incarnation of Blake’s Bar & Grill in the port area of Puerto Vallarta known as Puerto Magico, which is where passengers from cruise ships disembark, I had a chance to see for myself the damage that Hurricane Lidia had done to her restaurant. The interior was all covered with tarp, but I was able to see through a hole in the tarp. I was quite surprised to see that the restaurant itself was largely intact – tables and chairs all in place, dishes, utensils and cooking equipment all in place, but the windows to the outside were all blown out. That piqued my curiosity and became the subject of part of our conversation.
Still, as my wife Meachelle and I sat down with Megan to enjoy a beverage in a nearby coffee shop and listen to her story, I couldn’t help but be impressed by Megan’s very positive attitude. As it turns out, Megan had been in my son Jordy’s class at Brock Corydon School (of which I was not aware. Also, somewhat coincidentally, Jordy, who now goes by the name Jitendradas Loveslife, also lives in Mexico, in a town populated by New Age former hippies known as Ajijic.)
I asked Megan how she came to own a restaurant in Puerto Vallarta?
Megan explained that she had gone about as far as she could as a restaurant manger in Winnipeg. As Myron noted, Megan had worked for McDonald’s, Montana’s (helping to open their Kenaston location where she worked as a line cook), Moxie’s Bar & Grill, Olive Garden, also Famous Dave’s – all before she had even turned 30.
Megan had been traveling to Mexico with her parents and siblings for years, she told me, and fell in love with the country. So, in 2018, she took all the savings she had accumulated and bought Blake’s Bar & Grill in downtown Puerto Vallarta, which had first opened in 2006. Before she was able move to Mexico though, Megan had to acquire a residency permit – which was no easy task, she explained.
You see, in order to purchase a business in Mexico, one needs something called an “RFC” (which translates from the Spanish to Federal Taxpayers Number).
As Megan told us, “without that (the RFC) you can’t purchase cars, housing, anything. I got my residency before I moved down. You have to do your residency out of country.”
I asked her how she could become a Mexican resident while still in Canada?
She said, “You apply, you have to make a certain amount of money. So I applied three times – within a six month period. I went to Toronto twice. Applied. Denied. Both times. Went to Calgary” – and finally got her residency permit.
But, there’s something else Megan explained that made the challenge of buying Blake’s even more difficult: She wasn’t able to finance the purchase – she had to pay cash entirely – something, we were also told, is par for the course for just about any major purchase in Mexico, including houses.
But, just because Megan was able to buy Blake’s, she wasn’t able to work in her own restaurant, she told me, until she had a work permit. As she explained, “…so you get one year temporary residency, then you apply for a three year extension after that, and then after that, then you apply for your permanent residency. But temporary residency doesn’t include a work permit. That’s the biggest thing, so I had to apply for my work permit to be attached to my temporary residency.”
Megan, however, had forgotten to apply for a work permit – which she would have needed to work in her own restaurant. “But,” she explained, “then when my daughter was born (in 2019) – because she’s Mexican, I automatically became a permanent resident. So I didn’t have to wait for four years – I only waited two (to become a permanent resident)” – thus allowing her to work in her own restaurant.
Now, while Megan’s initial foray into the restaurant business was quite successful, the first Blake’s Bar was too small to accommodate the high number of customers it was attracting. As Megan put it, “the place was too small. It was a very small… very small restaurant.”
And then, in 2020, Covid hit. While Mexico had no sort of rules requiring masking in public places, it did institute rules governing social distancing – with a six feet distance required between tables. “We could only have two or three tables in at one time during high season,” Megan said.
So, in 2021, Megan moved to another location in Puerto Vallarta, in an area known as Plaza Santa Maria. Things were going really well in that new location. It had become a very popular spot for Canadians, especially Winnipeggers, as Megan made sure all Winnipeg Jets games were shown there. (Megan was in that location when Myron contacted her and she was brimming with confidence when she spoke to him about how well things were going.)
There was one major problem, however, as Megan explained: “The landowner there didn’t pay her taxes. So when you went to go take out your licensing, you have to show proof the taxes are. And if they’re not paid, then you can’t take out your licensing. And she owed back taxes of almost five years, which was over 300,000” (pesos – or about $22,000 Canadian dollars).
“And she didn’t want to pay it. So I had no choice,” Megan noted. As a result, after only one year in what had been a very successful location – even if only for a short while, Megan moved yet again, in 2022 – this time to the Puerto Magico location.
The owners of the building where Megan opened what by then had become the third location for Blake’s in only four years had induced her to move there with all sorts of promises, she said: “They had promised us numerous things that they never completed. The passport office was supposed to open upstairs two years ago. Still not open. Another restaurant was supposed to be up there. We were just alone up there. There’s nothing. They made it impossible for guests to get up the stairs. They wouldn’t fix the elevator. It still doesn’t work to this day. It’s been three years…and the whole thing with that is they don’t want to pay the electricity to have the elevator working.
“So they just made it impossible for the cruise ship people to get upstairs or any people in general to get upstairs.” On top of all that, the owners of Puerto Magico didn’t allow Megan to have any signage on the street which would have told tourists that Blake’s Bar was there.
Still, Megan might have been able to turn things around were it not for that hurricane last October. She had developed a great reputation as a restaurateur. (Just take a look at the glowing reviews on Tripadvisor for Blake’s Bar). In addition, Megan is a fantastic baker and she had opened a bakery known called Sweet Temptations Bakery Boutique next door to Blake’s in Puerto Magico. That closed too the same time as Blake’s when the hurricane hit.
You’d think, however, that notwithstanding the damage that a hurricane might have caused, it would just be a matter of time before things could have been repaired and Blake’s would have been back in business – but that wasn’t the case.
While the interior of the restaurant was left largely intact, the windows had all been blown out. So, it’s just a matter of replacing the windows – right? Or, so you’d think. But this is Mexico – and similar to the landlady who didn’t want to pay her taxes in Blake’s previous location, the owners of Puerto Magico haven’t moved to replace the windows that were blown out.
Here’s how Megan described what happened: “So, the whole thing here, after the hurricane hit, when you construct a building here, the windows and doors are property of the plaza. Doesn’t matter if you put them in, they put them in, it’s property of the plaza. You can’t leave with them. Yeah. Same with the floor. So when the hurricane came through and destroyed everything, the first thing they said to me is our insurance will cover it, our insurance is going to cover it, it’s our property.
“So we waited and waited and waited and waited and about two and a half to three months in, they said, nah, our insurance actually isn’t going to cover it. At that point, my own insurance wouldn’t cover it anymore. It has to be done within 24 hours. That’s just how it is.” (Note to readers: Anyone from Winnipeg could identify with Megan. A building burns down and a pile of rubble remains for years. A bridge closes because it’s unsafe and it sits there – unusable, but with no plan to replace it.)
Not one to let anything get her down though, Megan still had her pop-up restaurant, Drop Shot Chill n Grill. As I mentioned at the beginning of this story though, just recently that site too had to close down.
This time it was the landlady who owned the area where Drop Shot was located that forced Megan to close. While Megan leased the space for her location from an individual who didn’t actually own the land where Drop Shot was situated, he had tennis and pickleball courts there. Apparently though, the woman who actually owned the land didn’t like the loud music coming from Drop Shot – even though it wasn’t in a residential area at all.
Again, here’s how Megan described the situation: “In our contract it stated that I was allowed to have live music, barbecue, blah, blah, blah. The landowner who owns the land, who I don’t lease from, owns the hotel behind the parking where the tennis courts are. And she doesn’t like noise. She doesn’t like any noise. Yet, they have music and tennis tournaments and fairs and they have the food park and all that.
“So, during our live music, she would complain constantly, even though our music was only from 3 to 6 – that her guests, one guest in particular, couldn’t sleep – it was too loud. We always abided by the decibel restriction limit; it was never over the decibel limit.”
The story continued: “So she cut our electricity off once when we had the live music – but the second time she did it, I had a generator. She didn’t know that I had a generator going. So she had cut the electricity, but the music was still playing. So at that point she would call the ‘reglamentals’ – the bylaw officers, who would come check and she’d say, ‘There’s really loud music going on at Drop Shot.’ They would come, they would check, they’d check my permits, everything would be okay, they’d leave. That’s when I called the police on her. They’re my friends. They had a very long conversation with her… told her that it’s illegal to cut the electricity, she can’t do it.”
But, as you might expect, the landlady wasn’t about to back down. “It got to the point where she threatened the guy who I was subleasing from that if he didn’t get rid of me, she was going to get rid of everybody.
“She wouldn’t re sign the contract with him. So he’s had his tennis courts and pickleball courts there for over five years. And she said, ‘if I don’t leave, then everybody’s leaving.’ “
So, once again, Megan has had to abandon what had turned into a successful venture – but after dealing with Covid, a landlady who didn’t want to pay taxes, a hurricane, and a landlady who doesn’t like loud music, you’d have to wonder whether Megan is still willing to enter into yet another food venture?
Not surprisingly, she said she is. I asked her “How real is that? How feasible or viable?”
“Oh, it’s very viable,” she answered. “We’re just waiting on the contract to be signed.” Megan added that she has someone who she wouldn’t describe as a partner in her putative venture, but somebody “that’s going to help me.”
Throughout our conversation I had refrained from bringing up the subject that surely must be in the back of many a reader’s mind when it comes to thinking about doing business in Mexico: What about the cartels? Has Megan had any run-ins with the local cartel I wondered? (And when it comes to cartels, Puerto Vallarta is located in the state of Jalisco. Anyone who knows anything about Mexican cartels would know that the Jalisco cartel has a reputation for extreme violence.)
Megan answered though that “They’re not really that visible here… They keep it very under the table here.”
I said though that “the Jalisco cartel is notorious.”
But, Megan responded, “that’s more towards Sinaloa and Chihuahua.”
Still, given Mexico’s longstanding reputation for corruption at almost every level, I asked Megan, “Did you have to pay off people?”
She answered: No, never, never, never had to pay anybody off. You give back and then, you know, everybody takes care of each other.” She went on to describe the excellent rapport she has had with the local police, for whom she has catered a huge feast known as a “masada” every year, at which over 400 police have attended.
It’s hard to imagine someone coming down to Mexico and, within the space of only six years, opening restaurants (and closing them) in four different locations, yet still remaining optimistic that she’ll be able to open a fifth in short order.
If and when Megan does open another restaurant – I’d sure like to try the food. If the reviews she received on Tripadvisor for each of her locations are any indication, one thing Megan Kravetsky knows is how to prepare great food – and leave her customers with a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Features
I’m 15. Here’s why Kinew’s social media ban needs work
By NOAH STRAUSS I’m 15 years old, and last Saturday night at an NDP fundraising gala, Premier Wab Kinew announced his intentions to ban social media and AI chatbots for kids. His brief announcement made no clear ruling on the age of his ban. As someone who uses social media daily to communicate with friends, I have some thoughts on whether this is actually a good idea— and how it could work.
If Kinew wants his ban on social media to be effective, he should target kids born in 2014 and younger, placing the ban on kids who have not yet had the time to build their lives around it.
Looking at what other countries have done is a useful starting point. Australia banned social media last year to users under the age of 16. France, also, is currently in the process of passing laws through its National Assembly to ban it for kids under 15. Closer to home, the Liberal Party of Canada recently passed a motion at its convention that would seek to adopt legislation that would ban social media for kids under 16, signalling how controlling social media is becoming a mainstream idea.
Social media isn’t all bad. Yes, it causes developmental issues in teens, and it causes anxiety, but so many of us rely on it every day to communicate, share ideas and spread messages. For someone like me, losing it overnight would cause a massive disruption to my daily life. That is exactly why a blanket ban on all social media for minors would miss the point.
At the age of 12, most kids have not spent too much of their lives on social media before their lives are built around it. Britain has implemented a similar year-based ban, banning those born in 2009 and younger from ever purchasing cigarettes. Banning people before they have a chance to be exposed ensures they cannot get addicted. The same logic applies to social media: If kids never get a chance to become dependent on it, the ban won’t uproot their lives. Implementing a ban for kids born in 2014 and younger will ensure they cannot use social media during their developmental stages, just as Kinew intends.
Beyond the social impacts, there is also a political problem behind the ban. In time, kids who have had social media banned by Wab Kinew will head to the polls. How does this look for the man who took it away from them? It will be hard for Kinew to win over a generation of voters whose first political memory is him restricting their online lives.
Kinew succeeded in at least one category, and that is the blame game. He rightfully made sure that the people of Manitoba should know that this is not the fault of our parents, but it is the fault of the technology companies, whose one goal is to make their products successful through making them addictive to the user.
Good intentions are a start, but if Kinew is serious about protecting kids, the details of his ban matter just as much as the principle behind it.
Features
Part 10 of the story of the delusional Winnipeg con man: The con man asks to meet with me and ends up being thoroughly grilled about the cons he’s pulled
By BERNIE BELLAN This is the tenth -and final part of a story about a delusional Winnipegger who believes he is someone of great wealth and has spent the better part of 30 years contacting people all over the world telling them that he wants to invest in their businesses or projects. The first nine parts of this story are all available to read under the FEATURES category on this website.
Here is the final part of my story:
On April 9, 2026 I finally had a chance to meet with Fred Devlin again. The day before, I was totally surprised when I saw a message from him saying he wanted to talk to me – and gave his phone number (which is the same phone number I had for him from years ago).
I called him – and he was quite pleasant, although he said he was suffering from pneumonia. After just a couple of minutes, however, he said his wife had just walked in and he couldn’t talk.
The next day he messaged me and asked whether we could meet. I said “yes” and we agreed to meet at either the Fairmont Hotel or Hy’s. He said he would let me know. It ended up being Hy’s.
When I walked in Fred was standing beside the bar. He looked remarkably the same from the last time I had seen him, although a little dissheveled. There were no apparent signs of his having had pneumonia.
He asked the server if we could have a private table somewhere and she told us that we could go upstairs to the dining room, which was empty. We sat down and I placed my iPhone on the table, as did Fred. I told him that I wanted to record our conversation so that everything he might say would be on the record. He agreed and also said he was going to record it himself – presumably to make sure that I wouldn’t alter anything.
In every instance where he refers to the name of his company or supposed group of companies, I’ve omitted the actual name – even though in the rest of my story I refer to his group of companies as the Xanadu group. In a couple of instances he referred to real people during our conversation, but since they are not mentioned anywhere else in this story and play no part in the story I’ve told, I decided to retain their real names.
I want to explain what follows is not easy reading. Fred Devlin clearly suffers from a psychotic delusion and my intent is not to make light of his illness. There are many people who suffer from various psychoses and many of them are capable of committing great harm to others if their psychoses aren’t treated – or, even if they are treated, the treatments fail.
What makes Fred Devlin’s story so unusual, however, is the harm he was able to inflict and is apparently still inflicting on so many others by his believing the story he had somehow developed to explain his life. Even as I was talking to him I could see that his calm, measured tone could seem quite convincing to most people with whom he would connect. I deliberately went after him as hard as I could though, to see whether I could break his composure by asking him questions quickly and not giving him the opportunity to start rambling on about his group of companies, his charitable endeavours and, most important, his vast wealth.
By the end of our conversation he was shaking and kept saying the was tired. I honestly felt sorry for him, but I wanted to get him on the record contradicting his story fully in so many ways so that no one reading this would doubt for a moment that Fred Devlin is fully psychotic and can be quite dangerous when he tries to envelop trusting individuals in his web of deceit, regardless whether he himself is unaware just how deceitful he really is.
One more note: As is the case with most conversations, speakers often interrupt one another, thoughts don’t get fully expressed – and even though the transcription program I used is quite accurate, a lot of what Fred Devlin said was indecipherable. I’ve tried to do justice to what was said, but I’ve left out a lot of the pauses and words that made no sense.
Here is how the conversation went:
Devlin: Now do you want me to just talk or you ask questions – or do you have questions?
Me: Well, of course I have questions, but if you want to start off by saying something, go right ahead.
Devlin: It’s gonna take a series of interviews to cover my life, but I’m gonna give you everything. I’m gonna give you evidence. I will show you that everything I always say is true. I started my life at… started in Israel when I was 10. My father went to teach at the Weizmann Institute. We went through Europe and then to Israel. We were in Greece on the way to Israel, and there was the (raid on Entebbe). Okay. We got to Israel, ran into by chance Benjamin Netanyahu, who had lost his brother. And we gave our condolences and that was the first meeting I had with Benjamin Netanyahu. We lived there. I went to school there. I was infatuated with the soldiers and the guns and the bullets and… a soldier, a friend – Michael Perl…. I don’t know if you know Michael Perl – but his brother gave us all these empty shells. I went to a sporting goods store, bought a gun, a starting pistol. I converted it into a gun and I guarded my campus in Israel, and that was what I was meant to be. So my life is about guarding Israel, the … Foundation worldwide, which is just a name, it’s actually a numbered company based outta Luxembourg and the … group of companies Worldwide Holdings are also a numbered company under … Investment Corporation, which you can look up at the Manitoba Companies office on Broadway.
Me: Let, let me stop you there. First of all, I’m not so sure about the whole story about meeting Netanyahu, but regardless, the … group of companies has no presence on the internet. I don’t believe there is any such thing as the ….Group of Companies. Do you have any proof that there is something (by that name)?
Devlin: Of course, I will have lawyers write to you.
Me: Never mind lawyers. What can you show in terms of documentation?
Devlin: I can show you the websites. It’s just a name, okay.
Me: And what are the companies in the … group of companies?
Devlin: There’s 3,360.
Me: Okay. Can you name any of them?
Devlin: Of course, but I’m not going to name…
Me: Name one.
Devlin: I’m not gonna name one. It’s private.
Me: You’re not gonna name one?
Devlin: Not today, no.
Me: Why?
Devlin: ’cause they are secret. They’re secret companies. Okay. I want no one knowing my business. I haven’t been in a publication since May, 1990.
Me: How many companies now is it (in the group of companies)?
Devlin: 3,300… 3,306.
Me: When I spoke to you in 2021, it was 300.
Devlin: I was being honest. Okay.
Me: Alright. So, the … group of companies has 3,300 companies. You won’t name one. You won’t provide any proof that there is (even one company).
Devlin: I’ll provide you with okay. But not today.
Me: Alright. And it’s headquartered in Luxembourg, correct?
Devlin: Okay
Me: And David Simkin is what?
Devlin: My CEO.
Me: Okay. Does he exist?
Devlin: Of course.
Me: Where does he live?
Devlin: Luxembourg. Okay. But he traveled.
Me: No one has ever been able to establish that there is anyone by that name.
Devlin: Because he’s Mossad.
Me: Because he’s Mossad?
Devlin: Correct. And that’s not his real name.
Me: Oh, it’s not his real name. Okay. Alright, let’s go on.
I am sort of curious to know about your business career. I did read that you were in real estate and then you became the executive director of the Winnipeg Airport ….
Devlin: No, I first started Winnport. I founded Winnport.
Me: You founded Winnport?
Devlin; Yes. Yeah. Here, I’ll show you.
Me: Okay. And what year was that?
Devlin: About 1992 to 1994.
Me: And you have some proof for that.
Devlin: Of course.
Me: Of course. (According to Wikipedia, Winnport was established in 1998 by Lynn Bishop. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about Winnport: “Winnport Logistics, a Winnipeg-based air cargo consortium, was established in 1998. The company launched Canada’s first scheduled widebody cargo operations during that year, aiming to connect Winnipeg to Asian markets, before eventually ceasing operations in 2002”.)
Me: And then you became executive director of the Airport Area Business Improvement Zone?
Devlin: No. Of the Winnipeg Development Corporation biz, not the Winnipeg…. Never with the Airport Area Business Improvement Zone. (I found that answer particularly strange because the 1998 article I referenced earlier specifically stated that Devlin had been the recently appointed executive director of the Airport Area Business Improvement Zone. Why he would he have chosen to talk about Winnport, with which he may have had some involvement, but certainly not in the years he said he was involved, and not the Airport Area Business Improvement Zone – raises new questions – both about Devlin’s resumé – and his memory.)
Devlin: Yes, I was. And I had it (Winnport) spun off. I’ll tell you the story, but easy for you to look at. (And at that point he pulled out what I immediately recognized as his album of photos that he had first shown me in 2021.)
Me: Are you gonna show me more pictures?
Devlin: Yep. I’m show you.
Me: Okay. I don’t care. I’ve seen your pictures Fred, and you know what? I don’t care about your pictures.
Devlin: You know what, then don’t be rude…
Me; Alright. When was that? You say that was 1992.
Devlin: It’s ’94 or so.
Me: Okay. Alright. Look, I don’t doubt that you had some sort of business career. I wrote that (in my original story that I posted to the internet in February 2026), so the question is: ‘What happened?’ (At that point a waiter came over with our soups and the conversation paused.)
Me: Okay, let’s go on. So how long were you with Winnport then?
Devlin: About a year, and then that was…there’s a story behind that. There’s a lot more to the story. Alright, so can I tell you the story?
Me: The Winnport story? Yeah. Tell me the story.
Devlin: When I was running my company, … Investment Corporation, which I founded in 1987 and still operating, which owns all the … Foundation worldwide. In a … group of companies. It’s in the Companies office. It’s current and operating.
Me: Go on.
Devlin: In May of 1990 I was featured in Manitoba Business Magazine.
Me: Yes, I have that article.
(At this point the man I’ve been calling Devlin launched into a very descriptive, but often incoherent account of part of his earlier business career. As I’ve noted previously, I have no doubt that Devlin was very bright – and successful – until something happened. So, when he weaves names of real people into his stories, there might be more than a semblance of the truth in what he’s saying. The problem is he seems to get key dates wrong – as when he talks about Winnport – and when he claims to have been the person to have started that company.
Still, it’s somewhat sad to think how much potential he had – as he explains in the following account. If only he had never veered completely off the rails and started insinuating himself into so many people’s lives, causing so mach damage along the way.)
Devlin: Yeah, (but) you don’t have the full magazine, which has much more information. (It) talks about me becoming an up and coming… and Izzy Asper saw the article and summoned me…it was a billionaire summoning a millionaire and it was the only time in my life I was intimidated a little bit. We became partners, friends, mentor, and he financed me for the acquisition of land where Centerport is. I still control land at the airport and I started Winnport. I founded it. It was my business plan, my concept, although it was talked about by others. I mapped it out on a plane coming back from Amsterdam, Holland ’cause I mapped out a logistics plan that is now Centerport. So, I was sitting on a Saturday going through the career section at our place on Wellington. I saw a career commercial development officer wanted by the Winnipeg International Airport and Izzy Asper and I had already bought the land, so I figured I’d go as an insider. I got the job the next day ’cause I had a presentation, which included every element of what they were trying to do. I worked technically for someone named Warren Thompson, but I really worked with Lynn Bishop, who was the general manager of the airport and eventually president of the Bombers. I talked to Lynn yesterday, I believe so. I still keep in touch with a great guy. Okay. I realized that I had a conflict of interest owning land and being the insider in the airport. So I realized I had to spin off a company. So we spun off Winnport, which I named. I actually spelled it W-I-N-P-O-R-T. Lynn Bishop on a flight back from, I believe, Chattanooga, Tennessee. No, uh, Huntsville, Alabama, where we were looking at CargoX airplanes from Luxembourg, which I own now in control. Go look it up and you’ll see nothing about me. Every company I own does not come back to me. My business is silent.
(A few days after meeting Fred Devlin, I did manage to get a hold of Lynn Bishop, who was the original founder of Winnport – in 1998, when Fred would have been around 32. Lynn told me that Fred Devlin did work for the company for a very brief time, but they had to let him go because his behaviour was so erratic. That jives with my thinking that it was sometime when Fred was in his early thirties that he became quite delusional.)
Me: Why? Why is that?
Devlin: Two reasons. I don’t want anyone knowing my business. If I’m to buy land or buy something, the price goes up if they comes from …. So we use shell companies to buy and make offers with legal. That’s one. The other is reputation. God forbid Air Canada has a crash. And it connects to …, then my reputation is real.
Me: So Air Canada is one of the companies you own?
Devlin: I’m not gonna say.
Me: you’re not gonna say?
Devlin: I will tell you next meeting. I will give you a paper with some holdings. I know Michael Rousseau very well, who was vice president of Finance for Air Canada.(He was actually its CEO until recently. when he resigned over his not knowing how to speak French.) I deal with him. He’s been fired. We’re bringing in a new CEO and president. I own part of Boeing, okay.
Me: Let’s move on. What did you do after Winnport?
Devlin: After I left Winnport, I was not happy. I sold it to Cargojet or behind the scenes, and we have shares in Cargo, which is the largest Canadian cargo companies, so Winnport became very successful domestically. I’m doing the project again to introduce runs by CargoX currently, which will be Winnport again and Cargojet. (As has been noted, Winnport ceased operations after 2002.) And I will make Winnport as I expected it to be. Then I left Winnport and I became executive director…(of what, Devlin didn’t say). Didn’t take a salary or I gave my salary to charity to stay involved with the airport area and Winnport.
Me. And what did you do then?
Devlin: I did nothing. I was executive director of the Airport Area Business Development Corporation. (The chronology is so confusing. Devlin just claimed he left Winnport and became executive director of the Airport Area Business Development Corporation, but Winnport wasn’t established until 1998 and that 1998 magazine article said Devlin was the recently appointed executive director of the Airport Area Business Development Corporation, which would have preceded his becoming involved with Winnport but, In the final analysis, it doesn’t really matter what the sequence of his various positions he hleld was – if he, in fact, actually held the positions he said he held. Still, it seems evident that Fred had an upward career trajectory until he developed his psychosis. I haven’t been able to establish what he was doing when he apparently developed that psychosis when he must have been in his thirties.)
Me: And you didn’t take a salary?
Devlin: I took a salary, but I gave it to charity.
Me: Is there a record – of your having been with Winnport?
Devlin: I can get that for you.
Me: Okay. So you were already in your thirties by then, I’m guessing?
Devlin: Yeah.
Me: Okay. Alright. I wanna move forward though because as you know, I’ve been writing about you. I wanna talk about your relationship….
Devlin: You are slandering me.
Me: I want to talk about your relationship with Jonathan Soloway.
Devlin: Alright.
Me: I have copies of written agreements between you and Jonathan Soloway.
Devlin: You don’t have everything.
Me: I have signed agreements between you and Jonathan Soloway.
Devlin: No, I never signed an agreement with him.
Me: I have your signature on those documents.
Devlin: Never signed it.
Me: Are they forged?
Devlin: Were they forged? I don’t know what Jonathan did with them.
Me: Okay, so you are saying that those agreements are invalid.
Devlin: They’re invalid and I can tell you what I offered Jonathan and I helped save his life, and was the only person who reached out to him after I hadn’t talked to him in 45 years. He flew to Winnipeg to meet with me at 529 (Wellington). I befriended him. I tried my best to help him. He had lost his life savings in a bitcoin scam or some type of scam on the internet. He had nothing. He had no car. He was living at his brother’s place. He lost his marriage. And the custody of his daughter, I believe, and his life was in ruins and I was the only one to step up to offer to help him. I offered him, I’m setting up a real estate investment trust in the fall with Nikki Bello (who, I was able to learn, is a Winnipeg Chartered Professional Accountant), if she’s interested still. And probably Lauren. (I have no idea who that is and I didn’t ask Devlin who Lauren is.)
Me: Did you tell him to stop making payments on all his debts?
Devlin: No.
Me: You deny that?
Devlin: No, I said to him, “Don’t pay if they’re not gonna come after you.”
Me: And you didn’t offer him a salary of $250,000 a year?
Devlin: I, no…. being paid on the first 50. (In talking to Jonathan, he explained that 50 would have meant 50% of the Real Estate Investment Trust he was supposed to be setting up with Devlin.) Would you like to know what it is?
Me: Sure.
Devlin: I offered him 49% of the company outta my goodwill of the shares. Jonathan was confused. He thought he was getting a job. I said, “No, you’re getting a partnership.”
Me: So if I were to show you the agreement (promising to pay Jonathan $250,000 a year) with your signature on it, would you say that is a false document?
Devlin: I’d have to see it.
Me: Well, I can open it up for you if you want.
Devlin: Jonathan turned on me because I was in the hospital. I disappeared for five weeks with a brain injury and I couldn’t help him pay off his debt. I talked to his creditors. I got his debt reduced. I did my very best for Jonathan.
Me: Alright, so you say that you didn’t offer him a salary of $250,000.
Devlin: Yes, I did.
Me: You did?
Devlin: But once we were operational and there was cash flow from the REIT. I wouldn’t take a salary. Nikki wouldn’t take a salary. She took shares and then I promised him a $250,000 salary as long as we had cash flow.
Me: But these agreements are quite recently signed and don’t say anything about having to wait for a cash flow before he would get paid.
Devlin: Nothing happened. There was no money there.
Me: It’s all part of a pattern Fred of you stringing people along with promises of a big payday and then, when they start asking “Where’s the money?”, you say there is no money there – right?
Devlin: That’s your belief. It’s not true.
Me: Have you ever put up money for a project?
Devlin: Many times. All the time.
Me: And can you substantiate that?
Devlin: Yeah. I can show you an airline project where I’m doing in Nigeria.
Me: Did you not offer Rick financial help with his publication?
Devlin: Never. No. Okay. I offered him a million dollars potentially to buy him out from 420 magazine and to have him run as CEO or in some position once we started 420 was a deadline (again – totally incoherent). I’m still willing to meet my commitments to him, but he slandered me and set up a group of people because he’s mentally ill. Has Asperger’s, I believe, or autism and rage management and A-D-H-D-.I disappeared in the hospital the next day without being able to tell anyone. I was in for five weeks. I couldn’t communicate. I had blinding brain injury, headaches, and vertigo. Couldn’t use my phone.
Me: How many times have you been in the hospital… committed for psychiatric reasons?
Devlin: Never. Never.
Me: Did you send a cease and desist letter to a psychiatrist?
Devlin: No.
Me: You didn’t’?
Devlin: Not that I recall.
Me: You didn’t have Bob Anderson send a cease and desist letter?
Devlin: Yes, I did.
Me: To a psychiatrist?
Devlin: Yes, I did. Okay.
Me; Why was that?
Devlin: I’m not gonna talk about it right now. Okay. Next time.
Me: So you were in the hospital for psychiatric visits.
Devlin: No. Okay.
Me: Did you meet a fellow named Jack in a psychiatric wing of a hospital?
Devlin: I went in to be undercover and I met him and he was my roommate.
Me: Did you tell him that you owned the hospital?
Devlin: Yes.
Me: Why?
Devlin: Because I do.
Me: That would be the Health Sciences Center?
Devlin: No, the Victoria Hospital.
Me: You own Victoria Hospital?
Devlin: . Through Internet means I control the hospital.
Me: Okay. This is all very interesting. You are actually confirming everything that has been told to me. Okay. I wanna talk about Charlie.
Did you offer to finance a charitable foundation for him in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?
Devlin: No.
Me: You never did?
Devlin: No.
Me: Even though he’s got letters, texts, and emails to show that you did.
Devlin: If he says so I’ve got the texts, I’ll have to read ’em.
Me: Have you been threatening Charlie?
Devlin: No.
Me: Have you not been telling him that you’re gonna ruin his life?
Devlin: Legally? Yes. For slandering me on Facebook, I’m gonna sue him to the grave.
Me: Did you tell him that you would take his farm? (I asked Charlie whether he ever had a farm. He said he didn’t.)
Devlin: Yeah.
Me: His pharmacy? (Again, Charlie was bewildered over the suggestion he had either a farm or a pharmacy which, he says, he’s never had. He said he did own a piece of land in his community – which he sold to finance the charitable foundation Devlin told him his …group of companies would finance.)
Devlin: I paid for his books, his computers, everything and the value that he has. And I said I would take it all.
Me: Why?
Devlin: Because he slandered me on Facebook after I put him through school partially, and I was a mentor to him. I spent hundreds of hours, which are documented. You can see. I’ll be happy to turn over all my emails and texts to you. Okay. He has not told you the truth.
Me; Alright, there are a whole slew of other people who I’ve talked to who told me that you would make promises to them. One of them was Dan Winthrop.
Devlin: I made no promises to Dan. I’m helping with a project with Israeli aircraft. Okay.
Me: And this has been going on for over 18 years?
Devlin: Correct.
Me: And you had a fellow in Las Vegas – Avi… I can’t remember his last name – who was going to facilitate your bringing over jets from Israel and convert them to some sort of use? Did Avi not try and set up a meeting between you and various officials, including Prime Minister Netanyahu?
Devlin: Our deal was once I hired him and pay him a million dollars a year. Plus 3.33% of the funds he raises. He’s earning about 120, I believe, as the director of…(Avi actually works in an area that is too sensitive to Israel’s security to reveal.)
He was not happy. He expressed an interest in working for me, so I did my best to get him a position. I became ill and was unable to fulfill it. But I am planning on fulfilling it.
Me: Okay, one more story of promises unfulfilled.
Devlin: Not my fault. I was in the hospital, very ill.
Me: Alright. I wanna get back to Jonathan Solaway though, because since you deny that you have had any written agreements with him, I wanna show you the written agreements and then have you comment on them.
Devlin: I don’t want to do this. Getting tired. I’m sick. I do next session.
Me: You’re getting tired now?
Devlin: Yes. Very tired. But I will talk to you next interview about that.
At that point someone walked by our table and Devlin turned to him, saying: “Hi, how are you?… I’m good. How are you?… Good… Oh, you’re the delivery boy today. You do everything. A jack of all trades. . Things are going well. Yeah. How about you? I haven’t seen you in a while. Been away and it’s been a while… I’ve been here. You been here? Was able to sneak in. You enjoy it? I am. Yeah. It’s good. Yeah. Good. Brock Wright. Brock Wright. Can you get me his number? ’cause we’re fixing the healthcare system.” (From 2000 to 2017, Brock Wright served as Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for what was then the new Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and, for five years during that period, also served as the Chief Operating Officer at Health Sciences Centre.) The person Devlin was talking to said : “I will try to, yeah. . Next time I see him, I’ll, I’ll grab it for you.” (I chose to include this little snippet to illustrate how good Fred could be at posing as someone important – and turning on the charm.)
I resumed my questioning: “Okay. Alright. If you don’t want to see the material that I have…
Devlin: Not, not this time, I’m too tired to look it up.
Me: Okay. Well let’s go back to asking some some more questions about other people who I’ve spoken to. One of them was a lawyer by the name of Bob Anderson.
Devlin: He’s not a lawyer. He lost his license for, well he was a lawyer in Virginia. Go look him up on the internet. I hired him after he was slandered and I tried to take down the information on him. We’ve been friends for 20 years. They came to me and approached me in Bolivia to buy banks and he came to the Forks area hotel. We became best friends and he did free work for me for many years for my foundation. And that’s it.
Me: How did you get in touch with Rick? Was it through Jack?
Devlin: Okay.
Me: And you met Jack in a psychiatric ward?
Devlin: I met him in the hospital – okay.
Me: Well, he says it was a psychiatric ward.
Devlin: Whatever he says. I won’t argue.
Me: So you deny that you were a patient in the psychiatric ward.
Devlin: No, I was not a patient.
Me: No, you were checking out the system ’cause you were the owner of the hospital. Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?
Devlin: You can do what you want with it. I’m telling you.
Me: You say you own Victoria Hospital?
Devlin: No, through options on the hospital with the Manitoba government.
Me: Oh really? Okay. You think that if I were to print this conversation now that this is going to make you look somehow as a bonafide, legitimate businessman?
Devlin: Not the way you are putting it. I’m just going to answer.
Me: I’m just asking you the questions and you’re giving me the answers… and I’m doing it on the record.
Devlin: I’m giving you a courtesy before I sue your ass for a hundred million dollars.
Me: Is that right? On what grounds?
Devlin: Defamation. You didn’t approach me to ever get my side of the story. You went with a group of people – Rick, who’s a crazy man, and he stirred up all these people, dug up every single person I knew because I was too open with them and slandered me and made up stories and approached you. I don’t know the total chain of events, but I will shortly.
Me: Okay, but you say that even though there are documents with your signature on them, especially the ones signed between you and and Jonathan Soloway, they’re not legitimate documents. Is that what you’re saying?
Devlin: They’re not. Jonathan knew very well that he was getting no salary till it was operational.
Me: Even though your signature’s on your document and promises…
Devlin: We tried to put together a document. It was null and void. Jonathan knew that – when was it made null and void immediately, within 10 minutes of it being signed.
Me: Why was that?
Devlin: Because Jonathan put in fake clauses saying that I owe him $250,000. But the other clause says he’s not gonna get paid till there’s generation of revenue. I have witnesses. Nikki Bello.
Me: Is that in the document?
Devlln: I believe so. I’d have to review it if.
Me: Jonathan is in big (financial) trouble and you deny that you told him to stop making payments on his debt?
Devlin: I said to him, these were my words: ‘If they’re not gonna come after you, it’s better to conserve your cash and not pay creditors.” I’ve had much experience with people who have worked for me with creditors.
Me: Did you not tell him that you were gonna take care of his debts?
Devlin: I did.
Me: You did?
Devlin: Yeah.
Me: Did you?
Devlin: Not yet. I got ill and I was unable to work, and now I’m happy to take care of his debts, but after he slandered me, I’m no longer willing to do it.
Me: Isn’t that a breach of contract then?
Devlin: There was no contract. It was friendly. It was a friendly promise to do my best to help him. Okay?
Me: But when I say there is a contract with your signature on it…
Devlin: I, I’d have to see it.
Me; Well, if I showed it to you, is it gonna make any difference?
Devlin: Could. It depends on what it says. I have to go through my documents and I’ll tell you next interview. (At that point Devlin said something incomprehensible, but then suggested that Jonathan doesn’t have a case that any lawyer would take on, saying “No one will take the case.”)
Me: There was a lawyer who was quite willing to take the case, but the problem is – you’re penniless – so there’s no point in suing you.
Let’s talk about your finances. How much money do you have?
Devlin: Look, that’s not your business, but I have a lot of money.
Me: Okay, you don’t think there’s a lawyer who’s quite willing to take the case (of a lawsuit against Devlin)?
Devlin: Go for it.
Me: But I asked the lawyer: Can Fred’s parents and his wife be included in a lawsuit?
Devlin: Yeah. And what did they say?
Me: He said, “no,” unless we can prove that somehow they were materially involved in all your affairs. By the way, how do you pay for all these meals at Hy’s and at the Fairmont?
Devlin: With my Interac card. Why?
Me: I’m just wondering who is supporting you? Is it your parents?
Devlin: Nobody supports me. No, no.
Me: It’s income from where? From the … group of companies, right?
Devlin: Correct.
Me: The …group of companies? And David Simkin is the CEO, right?
Devlin: Okay. I get my money from him.
Me: Would I ever be able to talk to David Simkin?
Devlin: No.
Me: Because he’s Mossad, correct?
Devlin: Right. And that’s not his real name. Ari Duran, my chief of Global Intelligence and Security based in Tel Aviv, who’s worked for me for over 20 years – he’s also Mossad. Everyone who works in my senior executives are Mossad or IDF.
Me: Are you accompanied by Mossad agents?
Devlin: Most of the time. I won’t answer that.
Me: Are you ever accompanied by Mossad agents?
Devlin: Correct.
Me: What does that mean?
Devlin: They guard my family in Winnipeg, in Cleveland – for 20 years.
Me: Do you live at …? (At that point I recited the address where Fred and his wife are presumed to live)?
Devlin: That’s our safe house. We have 1909 Wellington Crescent, and we’re moving to Number One Wellington in September.
Me: Did you live at 277 Wellington Crescent ever?
Devlin: Yes.
Me: All right. Who paid for the apartment?
Devlin: I did.
Me: You did? You paid how?
Devlin: My company paid for it.
Me: Okay. To be accurate, your house is owned by someone else entirely, with a mortgage on it, right?
Devlin: We have the option to buy it. His name is Michael (name omitted). Yeah. And his number is 3 3 3 3 3 3. (Of all the baffling things Devlin said during this conversation, that number was the weirdest. I have no idea what he meant by saying that.)
Me: We did a search for the title on that house. It’s only valued at $439,000. But you say that’s a safe house?
Devlin: Correct.
Me: So, where is your primary residence?
Devlin: I won’t answer that – for security reasons.
Me: Oh, for security reasons. Do you know how ludicrous this all sounds?
Devlin: I don’t care. I’m sure it does, but it’s true.
Me: And do you think that if you sued me for defamation and I were to have this played in court that you wouldn’t be laughed out of court? Fred, are you under psychiatric care right now?
Devlin: No.
Me; Have you ever been under psychiatric care?
Devlin: I was once under psychiatric care, but for a fact that I have a sleep disorder and I couldn’t sleep, and they had to give me medication through psychiatry to make me sleep. I don’t sleep 24 hours a day. I have a rare sleep disorder. I never sleep and without the aid of medication, so that was the only time.
Me: Okay. So when I approached your mother years ago after I had met you and asked her: “What’s the story with …?” And she said, “… is not well, please go easy on him.,” what do you think she meant, Fred?
Devlin: I wasn’t well physically and she wanted you to leave me alone.
Me: Well, was it because you weren’t well physically or weren’t well psychologically?
Devlin: No, it was physically.
Me: Have you ever been hospitalized for a psychiatric disorder?
Devlin: I’m not gonna answer that. Alright. My health is out of court.
Me: Well, you just said that you don’t have any psychiatric disorder.
Devlin: I have letters from the Cleveland Clinic. Each year for my corporation, I have to get a healthcare letter. I have no… besides pneumonia. Now I’m in perfect physical and mental health. Okay. And I have letters from doctors in Cleveland and in Winnipeg. Okay.
Me: Who do you have working for you in Winnipeg?
Devlin: I won’t answer that…many people.
Me: Is (name omitted) one of the people?
Devlin: She did some free work for me, but I’m planning on hiring her as CEO of … Foundation, Winnipeg office.
Me: Did you ever pay her anything?
Devlin: Not yet.
Me: Why not?
Devlin: ’cause we had no agreements in place for me to pay her. She was volunteering for the foundation.
Me: Or is it not the case that you have no money and it’s all a delusion, Fred?
Devlin: Okay, Bernie, whatever you say, keep up with slander. You know what? This interview is over if you continue this line.
Me: Well, since you denied that you’ve had any agreement with Jonathan Soloway, that you had any agreement with Rick, that you had a plan to to bring jets from Israel over to Canada to convert them for some sort of…
Devlin: We are, uh, proceeding with that project.
Me: And this project has been ongoing for almost 18 or 20 years?
Devlin: No, no, three years. Just three years with Dan. Three or four years with Dan – who I offered a company. I offered him, I sent, he went to Israel on his own money. Yeah. And he didn’t expect anything to be offered. I wasn’t gonna go to Israel because I thought his ideas that he had for 20 years may not be solid. He went on his own way to meet Gli, who’s a tremendous person, director of … I believe I have her name.
Me: There’s a whole slew of people you’ve contacted over the years. According to what I was told by (name omitted), you’ve recently contacted the head of the Winnipeg, Airport Authority and the head of Centerport.
Devlin: Not recently, although I phoned Carly (Edmundson, the President and CEO of CentrePort) yesterday.
Me: The CEO of CenterPort? Okay, what was the nature of your communication with her and the head of the Winnipeg Airport Authority (Nick Hays)? You have plans, right? You have projects. What kind of project is it you want to develop?
Devlin: Next interview. I’ll be happy. Okay.
Me: They don’t know about your past history. Because when I told Carly in an email that you’re totally delusional, she responded that came as a surprise, but she said all that she did is introduce you to some other people.
That’s your style, isn’t it Fred? You network with people. You find people, you use them to contact other people.
Devlin: Correct.
Me: So, you admit that’s what you do?
Devlin: Oh, that works. Yes. Yeah.
Me: Okay, so you network with people and then you find what their particular area of expertise is. You have some background in aviation, so that gives you…
Devlin: And real estate… and financial markets.
Me: Yeah. Okay. So that gives you the semblance of having some experience.
Devlin: I have deep experience.
Me: Then you lull people into thinking that you’re actually credible – right?
Devlin: Oh my god, that’s slander.
Me: But isn’t that how you operate?
Devlin: No, I don’t.
Me: No? What do you do?
Devlin: Not at all.
Me: What do you do then? How do you network with people?
Devlin: I try to find people I can help and do Tikkun Olam with, at every level. Tikkun Global. Yeah. And every person I touch, I try to help.
Me: Okay. What charitable foundations have you ever financed?
Devlin: In Africa, we financed USAID, Save the Children, World Vision… many.
Me: And you have proof for all that? That’s what Charlie told me that you told him when you suckered him into believing you.
Devlin: I suckered him? Yes. What a joke.
Me: Do you know the guy is suicidal? Do you know that I sent him money?
Devlin: How much money did you send him?
Me: I sent him 600 Canadian dollars,but he still owes a lot more. (I later sent Charlie another $800. I still keep in regular touch with him. Charlie still finds it difficult to believe that Fred Devlin was a total fraudster.)
Devlin: Good for you. I paid him more.
Me: You haven’t paid him a cent.
Devlin: I put him through school for $650.
Me: Oh you did, did you?
Devlin: Yes.
Me: And what kind of school was that?
Devlin: His certificate’s in business. (After I had this conversation with Fred I contacted Charlie to ask him whether Fred had ever given him money for anything. He sent me a screenshot of a text from Fred that was sent in 2023 in which Fred asks the director of a school Charlie was attending to give him an extension on paying his tuition, saying that he will “receive the necessary funds to pay for his school after I return from Israel on my peace mission in early December. I need to be in Winnipeg to direct these funds to him.” Of course, there never way any payment of any sort, according to Charlie.)
Me: But you’ve been sending him threatening messages.
Devlin: Because he threatened me on Facebook.
Me: What did he say on Facebook?
Devlin: He started writing all about me and saying I was a liar and I was… he slandered me. (I’m sure that Devlin was referring to the article I had posted on my website in February which contained that very detailed email outlining the litany of Fred’s broken promises. Somehow he had it confused with Facebook.)
Me: But that wasn’t Charlie who wrote that email.
Devlin: Who wrote it?
Me: You don’t know?
Devlin: I’ll find out.
Me: You think Charlie was capable of having written that email? (Charlie’s native tongue is French, and although his English is quite good, it didn’t take me long to realize that he couldn’t have written that January 16 email. I quicky deduced that it was Rick, who is capable of writing very well.)
Devlin: No. Was it Rick?
Me: That’s right. So why don’t you sue Rick?
Devlin: I am.
Me: You are? Where?
Devlin: I have a lawyer in Florida. I have lawyers in Toronto who can operate in Florida.
(And then I asked him about a lawyer in Winnipeg who’s his cousin – and is the lawyer who threatened to sue me for defamation. I asked Fred whether that person has ever acted for him? He said he has – for many of his over 3,300 companies.)
Me: Can you name one of those companies?
Devlin: Yes. Worldview Capital.
Me: Which is what?
Devlin: Which is what the airport is. Worldview Capital owns the world’s only financial model that works, generates between 250003300000.0% for annum. Yeah. It’s worth $1.15 trillion. I’m going to be making a deal with their candidate. (Again, totally incoherent)
Me: And (Fred’s cousin) acted for you in this, correct?
Devlin: Right.
Me: So if I ask (cousin’s name – omitted here) that, do you think he’ll substantiate that?
Devlin: He’ll tell you what I asked him. He won’t talk to you, he’s not talking to you.
Me: Oh, is that right?
Devlin: I’ve done this on my own – against my lawyer’s advice.
Me: Does (your cousin) know that you’re here, that you’re meeting with me?
Devlin: No.
Me: What would he say if he knew you were meeting with me?
Devline: He’d be pissed off.
Me: Yeah. What about your wife? Does she know? Pissed off, right? She knows that I’ve contacted you though – right?
Devlin: Yeah.
Me: Has she taken the phone away from you when various people have called you?
Devlin: No. No.
Me: Okay. What’s your wife’s role in all this?
Devlin: My wife has no role in all this. She facilitates, she works for another company.
Me: Has she sat in on meetings?
Devlin: No, she did not.
Me: Well, according to someone who asked me not to name them, she has.
Devlin: I’d have to look it up.
Me: Yeah, please do. I’ve spoken to…(and then, Devlin interrupted me.)
Devlin: I don’t care who you’ve spoken to, you’re not getting good information.
Me: Okay, do you want the real truth? I’d love for this to go to court. I’d want it to go to court because maybe that could put a stop to you. That’s why, when people ask me why I got so involved in this story, I say to them it’s because I’m trying to stop you from hurting other people – because you’ve hurt a lot of people, okay?
Devlin: If you say so and you’re not aware of what you’re doing…You make an excellent argument based on the fallacy of your assumptions, Bernie.
Me: I don’t know where to take this. You’re substantiating everything that’s been told me about you so far.
Devlin: I need more interviews. I’ll be happy to talk to you about everything but this, this should not go into an article.
Me: Would you be surprised to know that I’m writing a story about you?
Devlin: No, but we’re gonna co-publish that story with the truth.
Me: Oh, really? Do you think I’m gonna give you final edit on the story?
Devlin: No, I don’t expect it.
Me: I’m not even gonna let you see it. I’m gonna let the people who are mentioned in it see it before I try to publish it.
Devlin: Try it and see what happens to you.
Me: Well, I’ve already got one publisher who’s quite interested.
Devlin: I’m sure It’s a very interesting story.
Me: It’s been fascinating trying to flesh it out.
Devlin: How about if it’s true, Bernie? Did you ever contemplate everything I told you is true? Has that ever gone through your mind? And then think about what you’ve done.
Me: You mean the story that you’re telling? Is the story true in whole or in part?
Devlin: No, it’s true in whole.
Me: Every part of the story, every single part? Every part about you owning over 3,300 companies? Are you a trillionaire or a billionaire?
Devlin: I’m a trillionaire.
Me: You’re a trillionaire.
Devlin: Over and over.
Me: Are you richer than Elon Musk?
Devlin: Much richer than Elon.
Me: Okay. Then why do you dress like this?
Devlin: Like what?
Me: I mean you’re presentable, but it’s not what I’d expect from a trillionaire.
Devlin: I care about my parents. I…
Me: If you’re a trillionaire, where are the bodyguards? I can’t imagine a trillionaire not being surrounded by bodyguards
Devlin: They’re here. You don’t see them, but they’re here.
Me: I don’t see them. Are they Mossad?
Devlin: Yeah, they’re Mossad. We don’t want to have (his wife), for instance worry about bodyguards for my family. So it’s invisible. I don’t even know where they are.
Me: You don’t even know where they are?
Devlin: I can find out quickly by just tapping a button on my phone. That’s the truth. Okay. Now if I tell you what I’m worth, would that be helpful?
Me: Yeah, sure. Go ahead.
Devlin: $9.33 trillion.
Me: 9.33 trillion? How do you think that sounds?
Devlin: Do you think that when I have world…., but I know every up and down in stocks, commodities, currencies, commodities. I just trade. Automatically outta Luxembourg and I trade on my desk in my office and make millions of dollars.
Me: Fred, how do you think your parents would react if I were to send them a transcript of this conversation?
Devlin: They’d be very upset.
Me: Why?
Devlin: Because they don’t know everything about my business.
Me: Do they know that you have $9.33 trillion?
Devlin: No. You know, I’m very wealthy.
(I then asked Devlin about a cottage that he’s told people he owns, but I don’t want to get too specific about the name of the lake for the same reason I didn’t give Devlin’s actual address. Even though anyone who knows the real person I’ve been calling Fred Devlin in this story would recognize him from everything I’ve written about him, I highly doubt that anyone who doesn’t know his family would know whom I’ve been writing about – but if I were to reveal his actual address and where the family cottage is, it would be much easier to establish what Devlin’s real name is.)
Me: What kind of car do you drive?
Devlin: I drive a Porsche GT, three BMW convertibles. They’re not in Winnipeg right now because of the potholes. I store them in Florida and Cleveland. I have 17 cars that I collect for investments.
Me: I see. And where did you tell me you’re flying to this weekend?
Devlin: I expected I’m to fly to Toronto to meet with Irvin Shane, one of my lawyers. Then I’m flying to Cleveland to spend about a month with my family going over our legal strategy to undo everybody. And then, we’re suing, unless you convince me that you’re an honest reporter.
Me: Oh. Do you think I’m afraid of a threat of a lawsuit from you, Fred? If I were to play this in court…
Devlin: Um, you know what, Bernie…
Me: I’m surprised that you haven’t been committed to an institution.
Devlin: Um, I don’t know. I don’t know exactly the legalities of that anymore. Bernie. Bernie, be careful. Why you, you’re walking on thin ice…slandering me… try to go after my mental health.
Me: We’ll see what happens. But you go after Rick’s mental health.
Devlin: He’s self-admittedly mentally ill.
Me: No, Rick admits that he’s got some problems.
Devlin: Mm-hmm. how about anger?
Me: Yeah, he admits that.
Devlin: Why didn’t he call me when I was in the hospital to see where I am instead of gathering up all these people against me?
Me: What were you doing in the hospital?
Devlin: I had a concussion from a brain injury.
Me: And when was this?
Devlin: Uh, seven weeks ago maybe. Yeah.
Me: You were just in the hospital? You had a concussion from a brain injury?
Devlin: Correct. Do you wanna see the picture of my head?
Me: Where did you fall?
Devlin: I was in the bathroom. It was dark. We normally have lights that light up. Motion detectors. I lost my orientation. Lost my balance and fell on my head. On the bed board. (But he had just stated that he fell in the bathroom.) Yeah. Cussed myself. Knocked myself out.
Me: Alright. But even while you were in a hospital – with a brain injury, you maintained contact with various people, right?
Devlin: No. No.
Me: You didn’t phone people from the hospital?
Devlin: Not many. My phone was taken away.
Me: Who took it away?
Devlin: The doctor.
Me: Why?
Devlin: He didn’t want me making calls. He wanted me to rest.
Me: Which hospital were you in most recently?
Devlin: Victoria.
Me: And which ward were you in?
Devlin: I’m not gonna talk to you about my hospitalization ’cause you’re gonna twist it and write he’s got psychiatric problems.
Me: Isn’t it the case that were in the psychiatric ward of Victoria Hospital recently?
Devlin: I, I’m not gonna answer that. Do you have evidence that I was?
Me: I don’t, I’m just asking.
Devlin: Okay. Do I sound crazy, Bernie?
Me: Oh, you want me to answer that? Sure. You sound totally crazy, Fred. And I feel sorry for you, I feel deeply sorry for you, but what happened is just that you harm so many people.
Devlin: I never harmed anybody. No.
Me: What about Charlie?
Devlin: Never harmed.
Me: He’s suicidal.
Devlin: That’s not my fault. No, no, no.
Me: So you didn’t promise to fund his charitable foundation and he went out and spent money on his own?
Devlin: No. Never to start feeding (children). That’s not true.
Me: Poor African children, based on your promises to him?
Devlin: No, no, no. He asked me if I would send some money. ’cause he wants to feed the hungry. He brings porridge to them. Okay. To the hungry people.
Me: So did you send him money?
Devlin: No. No. Okay.
Me: Why not?
Devlin: Because I wasn’t involved at the time. I was planning on sending money…
Me: But you funded USAID and… which other charities? But you couldn’t send him a couple of thousand dollars. Why not?
Devlin: Was planning on it, but I, I got sick
Me: Did you ever pay Bob Anderson for any of the work he did?
Devlin: He never – I don’t owe him.
Me: Isn’t it true that either your father or your wife paid him?
Devlin: No.
Me: Or maybe one of your brothers?
Devlin: No.
Me: Gave him a thousand dollars. That’s what he says.
Devlin: Could be.
Me: Because he said you kept refusing to pay him.
Devlin: Bullshit. He’s in the deepest of troubles.
Me: The confidentiality agreement thats you had him prepare, you had loads of people sign confidentiality agreements that Bob Anderson prepared, didn’t you?
Devlin: He didn’t.
Me: He prepared almost 15 non-disclosure agreements for people to sign. Why would you have people sign non-disclosure agreements? ‘
Devlin: Cause I don’t want to be gossiped about.
Me: Or is it the case you didn’t want other people to know about what you were doing?
Devlin: No.
Me: Because if other people knew about the nonsense you were spouting, absolutely they would’ve cut you off at the knees.
Devlin: Absolutely not. No. That was not my motive. No.
Me: So, when you approached Jonathan Soloway because he was an old childhood friend and you told him that you could help him by setting up this real estate investment trust and you sent him contracts, what was your motivation?
Devlin: I didn’t send Jonathan contracts. No, I believe he sent them to me. (On that point Devlin was correct. I checked with Jonathan and he did say that he had the contracts prepared and sent to Devlin, adding that Devlin was incapable of producing the type of sophisticated agreements that Jonathan sent to him, but which show Devlin’s signature on them nonetheless.)
Me: Regardless, you signed the contract, but you say you didn’t sign the contract.
Devlin: Bernie. I didn’t say I didn’t sign it. I said, Jeff’s agreement that he sent me was bullshit.
Me: Okay, well, do I sound like I’m cross-examining you – because that’s what would happen if you went into court, Fred.
Devlin: I have zero problem. I’ve been in court many times.
Me: Would you be surprised to hear that different people are trying to initiate a police investigation of you now?
Devlin: There’s a police investigation of Rick…for threatening our lives, my mother’s and my life.
Me: Is that right? Where is that police investigation?
Devlin: Rick twisted it to say I threatened him. What a joke.
Me: Would you be surprised to know that there was a file opened on you by York Regional Police in Ontario and it was sent to Winnipeg ?
Devlin: No. I don’t care. No.
Me: Do you care that there might be a police investigation of you?
Devlin: Doesn’t bother me.
Me: Doesn’t bother you at at all?
Devlin: No, I’ll be happy to speak to the police… and give them evidence.
Me: I’m not sure where it’s at. I just know that there was a file opened on you.
Devlin: I’m not going nowhere, but if it does go further, I’ll be happy to talk to the police.
Me: Okay, I think this is enough, Fred.
Devlin: Um, are, are we gonna have another session? If you want,, I’d like the full truth to come out and then you can decide what to publish. I don’t feel you’ve given me justice.
April 26, 2026 This concludes my writing about Fred Devlin and his delusional cons. I was still receiving phone calls from Fred, however, asking when we could meet again – until I blocked him. And then I received a phone call from the man I’ve called Jack, who met Fred in the psych ward at Victoria Hospital. He was also totally incoherent, so I’ve blocked him too. I expect though that this story will still be ongoing. The man I’ve called Fred Devlin will likely continue to make contact with many more unsuspecting people and try to persuade them that he has a huge amount of money which he is willing to use to invest in various projects.
Further, I rather doubt any police force will proceed with an investigation. I’m sure whatever file ended up at Winnipeg Police Service has long been buried. But, since I decided to post these stories to my website – and I can reopen the story at any time, there may be more chapters to write.
If you’ve been reading these stories – either in whole or in part, you might like to know that I will compile them into one large pdf and make it accessible on this website at some point.
Features
BOOK REVIEW: “Fighting the Hate: A Handbook for Jews Under Siege”
Reviewed by MURRAY BENDER “Thinking on your feet”—quickly defending a position in a coherent, persuasive manner—is a situation that many people find challenging and stressful. “If only I had said this.” or “Why didn’t I say that?” Hindsight is always 20-20.
Following the Hamas atrocities of October 7, 2023, it has become increasingly necessary for diaspora Jews to “think on their feet” as they unwittingly face a barrage of tough, sometimes hateful, questions about Jews and their Israeli homeland.
Why is Israel committing genocide in Gaza? Why doesn’t Israel return the land it has stolen from Palestinians? Why are Israeli settlers attacking Palestinian farmers? How is Israel different from apartheid South Africa? Why can’t I criticize Israel without being called antisemitic? Is it true that Jews control the world? The list of potential questions is nearly endless.
Engage or hide? This is the difficult choice that confronts Jews as they look to deal with anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli behaviour. Fortunately, author and journalist Melanie Phillips comes to the rescue with her practical and insightful book, Fighting the Hate: A Handbook for Jews Under Siege.
According to Phillips, the dilemma has no single answer. “People need to decide how to behave in accordance not just with the specific circumstances but also with their own attributes and limitations.”
Some regard engagement with their opponents as a sacred duty. “They believe it is a betrayal of the Jewish people not to uphold Israel’s case.” Ohers may be uncomfortable with such a direct approach, but “those who decide to keep their heads down and avoid any altercation may well find that this leaves them with a permanent sense of regret and even failure,” she says.
As a result, it’s probably a good idea to adopt some sort of balance. And that’s where Phillips’ 150-page handbook comes in.
She starts by providing context around the “crisis of legitimacy and acceptance” from which Jews are reeling post-October 7. On the basis of extensive conversations with Jews from across the U.S., Britain and Australia, the author found that many “were near stupefied by the terrifying hatred and irrationality that was unfolding around them.” Again and again, they asked: “What should we do? What can we do?”
In response, Phillips offers a pragmatic approach to help prepare for the inevitable conversations, including a number of key principles:
- Get smart rather than emotional
- Stop playing defence
- Find common ground
- Be positive and confident
- Keep physically safe
Based on these overarching criteria, she provides an extensive list of quick and clever retorts to a range of different situations, emphasizing that “it’s our duty to our children and grandchildren to fight for truth and justice.”
So, the next time it is necessary to “think on their feet,” diaspora Jews will be able to respond quickly and confidently to those difficult questions about themselves and Israel. And they can thank Melanie Phillips for coming to the rescue.
Fighting the Hate: A Handbook for Jews Under Siege by Melanie Phillips is available online from Amazon and Indigo.