Taxpayers on the hook for bankrupt Ontario nursing home

This story was originally broadcast on April 8, 2004.

At its peak, the Royal Crest nursing and retirement home chain was one of the largest in Canada, with 17 homes in Ontario and operations in two U.S. states.

But when the Hamilton-based Royal Crest collapsed into bankruptcy in 2003, it became one of the largest nursing home failures in Canada, with nearly $200 million in debt, even though Royal Crest had received hundreds of millions of dollars from the Ontario government, money that was supposed to subsidize the care of residents.

So how did the Royal Crest empire come crashing down? How could homes that were heavily subsidized by taxpayer dollars end up in bankruptcy? Why did the brothers behind Royal Crest profit handsomely even as the debts mounted? And, wWhere did all the money go? W5’s Victor Malarek investigates in "The Royal Crest File"

UPDATE: A forensic audit of Royal Crest was commissioned by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in April 2004. After more than three years and $200,000 in fees later, the Ministry of Health provided its findings to the Ontario Provincial Police’s Anti-Rackets Health Fraud Investigation Unit in February 2008. The OPP did not lay charges.