The former president and chief operating officer of Ventum Financial Corp., Jean-Paul Bachellerie, has filed a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the company, arguing he was fired for no reason and without severance pay after 29 years of employment.
Ventum Financial – formed in 2023 from the merger of PI Financial Corp. and Echelon Wealth Partners Inc. – unexpectedly announced Mr. Bachellerie’s departure in October. A week later, on Oct. 22, the company appointed Karanjit Bhugra as its new president and Richard Butterworth as COO.
According to a statement of claim filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Mr. Bachellerie alleges that Ventum Financial terminated his employment “effective immediately without cause” on Oct. 15 – even though he had never received a negative review from the company or its predecessors, where he began his career in 1995.
Mr. Bachellerie could not be reached for comment.
Ventum Financial chief executive officer David Cusson said in an e-mail to The Globe and Mail that the company is “addressing this matter in a manner consistent with legal and organizational policies.”
Mr. Bachellerie, 59, alleges in his court filing that he “at all times loyally and faithfully discharged his employment duties” to Ventum.
Prior to his roles at Ventum, he was the CEO of PI Financial, a role he assumed on Dec. 1, 2018. During that time, when he moved into the CEO position, his annual salary was increased to $400,000, and he received a one-time bonus.
On June 24, 2023, PI Financial and Echelon Wealth Partners amalgamated, and Mr. Bachellerie was appointed president and COO of the new company. As part of his contract, after the merger, he was promised a $570,000 payout from a success bonus pool, of which $285,000 would be paid in equity and the remainder in cash. He says he is still owed $80,000 in cash.
The amended agreement, according to court documents, also provided a formula for severance pay in the event of Mr. Bachellerie’s termination without cause – including one month of severance pay for every year of service – so, 29 months. It was to be calculated based on several factors, including base salary, revenue and executive committee bonus pool allocations, and would be no less than $3.5-million.
Instead, Mr. Bachellerie says in his court filing that the company has “spent their time and energy” trying to “concoct an argument of ‘just cause’ in a bad faith effort to avoid paying the lawful amounts” owed.
In addition to severance, he is seeking payment for an alleged shortfall in the payout of his unused vacation days and $1-million in punitive damages, plus interest and legal fees.