McMaster stands behind DeGroote despite Caribbean casino venture
Hamilton’s McMaster University has reaffirmed its ties to billionare philanthropist Michael DeGroote after news broke Friday about his ties to a gambling venture headed by three businessmen with ties to organized crime.
Michael G. DeGroote, who has donated tens of millions of dollars to McMaster and has both the business and medical schools at McMaster named after him, lent the money to a trio of men from the Toronto area to create a chain of gaming facilities in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.
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Now, he’s locked in an international fight over Caribbean casinos whose cast includes one of Canada's most feared Mafia clans. There is no evidence that at the time, DeGroote knew of their underworld connections.
On Friday, McMaster sent a statement to CBC News in which the university stood behind someone it calls a “thoughtful, visionary and very generous man” who has supported the school over the past 30 years.
“We are fortunate that he shares our mission to grow McMaster’s international distinction as one of the world’s leading medical schools and research universities,” the statement reads. “He is a self-made man who has achieved tremendous business success and who firmly believes it is his duty to give back and to help people and organizations reach their full potential.”
McMaster did not address questions about DeGroote’s connections to the casino venture, nor would the university say if these revelations change the way it would accept money from him in the future.
DeGroote gave $105 million to McMaster's medical school back in 2003, and another $50 million last year.
A year-long joint investigation by the CBC and the Globe and Mail has found companies known as the Dream Group have descended into a bitter conflict of alleged murder plots, threats, armed robbery and bribery allegations, featuring an underworld roster right up to the late Montreal godfather Vito Rizzuto.
The Mob and Michael DeGroote airs on the fifth estate on CBC television at 9 p.m. Friday.