Rob Ford took donations, had dinner with businessman linked to corruption probe

Adrian Morrow
Globe and Mail Update
Published Wednesday, Mar. 30, 2011 11:55AM EDT

Mayor Rob Ford received $2,000 worth in campaign donations and held a meeting with a controversial former bar owner turned business consultant who was once accused of paying police officers for help obtaining a liquor license and reprimanded by a judge who said he misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars from an aboriginal group at the SARSstock concert.

In early February, Mr. Ford lunched with Johnathan Vrozos, who had earlier donated two tranches of $1,000 each to Mr. Ford's campaign, $500 less than the maximum amount.

In a brief scrum at city hall Wednesday morning, Mr. Ford said Mr. Vrozos won the lunch at a fundraising golf tournament.

“We fund-raised money for my campaign, so if someone bids on it I don’t check their background, and I went out to lunch like I had to commit to. And that’s it,” he said.

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