Discover the Real Story at Bridging Finance

David and Natasha Sharpe Face Mounting Legal Pressure as Bridging Finance Court Battles Continue

It’s been more than five years since the Ontario Superior Court of Justice granted an application by the Ontario Securities Commission to put Bridging Finance Inc. into receivership. That said, the legal pressure facing former Bridging CEO David Sharpe and his wife, former Bridging Finance CIO Natasha Sharpe, isn’t going down.

Bridging Finance Inc. was placed into receivership on April 30, 2021. Since then, David and Natasha Sharpe have been formally found to have committed fraud, including identity fraud by forging signatures.

Although that was a regulatory finding, not a criminal conviction, the couple’s outlook hasn’t improved since then. The Sharpes still find themselves battling authorities on multiple fronts over how they handled the now-defunct lender and the millions of dollars in kickbacks the tribunal found they received.

The many legal cases facing the Sharpes

David and Natasha Sharpe face a long list of legal battles related to the collapse of Bridging Finance Inc. Although neither has been publicly confirmed as facing criminal charges in connection with Bridging Finance’s collapse, both were previously identified as subjects of an RCMP investigation. They are still facing a number of other legal battles that remain unresolved.

Here are some of the most significant proceedings.

Civil fraud lawsuit brought by Bridging Finance’s receiver

Likely the biggest case the Sharpes are facing is from PricewaterhouseCoopers, Bridging’s court-appointed receiver. The accounting firm filed a civil lawsuit against the Sharpes and several others, alleging the former executives participated in fraudulent transactions and improperly diverted money from Bridging-managed funds.

PwC is looking for financial recovery from the defendants, including assets allegedly transferred into offshore trusts.

Civil lawsuit brought by BlackRock-related lenders

A group of lenders associated with BlackRock also brought a lawsuit, naming Natasha Sharpe and other defendants. The proceedings involve allegations of fraud and the movement of money into an offshore trust.

The litigation focuses partly on the Salus Rete Trust, which was established in Liechtenstein and originally named David Sharpe, Natasha Sharpe and their son as beneficiaries. The Sharpes reportedly relinquished their beneficial interests in August 2021, leaving their son as the sole beneficiary. The trust’s trustee challenged Ontario’s jurisdiction over the civil lawsuits, but failed in court on June 18, 2026.

OSC bankruptcy applications against both Sharpes

On August 27, 2025, the OSC announced that it had filed applications under Canada’s Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act seeking to have both David and Natasha Sharpe declared bankrupt. The applications followed their failure to pay financial sanctions imposed by the Capital Markets Tribunal on June 17, 2025.

If successful, the applications would place the Sharpes into bankruptcy and allow trustees to administer their assets for the benefit of creditors, subject to applicable insolvency law. Facts related to the case are also being used against former Bridging co-owner Gary Ng.

Ontario securities enforcement

On October 28, 2024, the Capital Markets Tribunal found that the Sharpes perpetrated or participated in three securities-related frauds involving more than $100 million. These findings added to their legal difficulties, establishing securities-law violations while separate civil lawsuits seeking financial recovery continued through Ontario’s courts.

The tribunal imposed major sanctions against the Sharpes on June 17, 2025, and, more recently, Ontario’s Divisional Court rejected the Sharpes’ appeal challenging preliminary tribunal rulings concerning the OSC’s disclosure of compelled evidence.