Wednesday, June 3, 1998
Bre-X's Walsh suffers stroke
By SANDRA RUBIN
The Financial Post
Bre-X Minerals Ltd. president David Walsh, beset by lawsuits, his
reputation in tatters and his assets frozen by his company's bankruptcy
trustee, was close to death last night after suffering a massive stroke in the
Bahamas.
Walsh, 51, insisted in an affidavit just two weeks ago he believed the
company at the heart of one of the biggest stock swindles in history had
made a "discovery of rich gold reserves" at its Indonesian site.
The chain-smoking stock promoter was admitted to Doctor's Hospital on
Sunday. Neighbors said an ambulance was seen leaving his Cable Beach
house outside Nassau around 7 a.m. He is in intensive care. The hospital
refused to comment on widespread reports he is brain dead.
"We have a patient of that name and he is in
critical condition," said Kelly Knowles,
vice-president of nursing services at the Bahamas
hospital. She refused to release any further details about his condition.
Walsh's two sons Brett and Sean and his wife Jeannette were keeping a
vigil at his bedside.
Montreal-born Walsh, who had been a resident of the Bahamas since
1995, has been fighting off class action lawsuits filed by angry Canadian
and U.S. investors in the wake of the multibillion fraud.
He suggested in a May 15 affidavit filed as part of a Texas-based suit that
he was a victim too. "I am not a geologist," he said in the sworn statement.
"John Felderhof, a renowned geologist, managed and supervised the
Indonesian properties."
The Walshes made about $45 million trading in Bre-X shares before the stock's collapse, according
to an affidavit filed in the Bahamas on April 30. It was part of a request for a Mareva injunction
freezing the couple's assets brought by Bre-X's bankruptcy trustee, Deloitte & Touche.
The injunction was granted the next day and the couple was put on an allowance of US$3,000 a
week. They were appealing the injunction at the time of his collapse. A hearing had been scheduled
for tomorrow.
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