On behalf of Credit Slab and NuLife, I would like to thank you for reading our statement. In the public interest, I am posting this so that people can decide for themselves and form their own conclusions regarding the articles published by David Bruser, Kevin Donovan and the Toronto Star. They’ve mischaracterized the Credit Slab and NuLife programs, focusing on a few dissatisfied customers rather than the thousands of people and families that we’ve helped. They have personally criticized me, Sheldon Wolf, for being a successful businessman, having a nice home, driving nice cars, and taking the occasional holiday.

In the case of Grant v. Torstar Corp. the Toronto Star was dragged into the Supreme Court of Canada in a defamation lawsuit. In their story on Liberal MP Margaret Bess there is an example of an apology issued for yet another Toronto Star reporting blunder.

Do you believe everything you read? It is important for all of think critically for ourselves, as opposed to thinking: “Everything is true because I read it in the Toronto Star!”

The Toronto Star is a large well known media outlet, but it also has many high profile investigative failures, resulting in apologies, retractions and lawsuits. For example their inaccurate portrayal of the Gardasil HPV Vaccine, which may have resulted in many children not receiving the vaccine, and perhaps eventually transmitting the Human Papillomavirus or getting cervical cancer.

This is an example of David Bruser’s work where he portrays the anecdotal stories of a few people and shifts much of the focus away from readily available medical evidence.

In the Toronto Star story “A Wonder Drug’s Dark Side”, it appears David Bruser may have less regard for the consequences for young children, as opposed to putting out a catchy but misleading story.

David Bruser interviews a few of our disgruntled customers and appears to slant the story to suggest that I am placing people into debt and providing no results or value. What he ignores is the fact that while he may have spoken with four or five disgruntled customers, we have thousands of customers who have improved their credit.

In fairness to David Bruser, he did ask me for contact information from happy customers and was made aware that we must honor customer privacy.

Further, David Bruser has posted pictures of my home and states that the Toronto Star has been by my home and viewed my Jaguar. The car has been off the road since mid-November of 2015. The car is covered, secured and only visible if you have unlawfully entered the property, the possibility of which is of great concern to me and my family.

While I do understand that David Bruser is a reporter and should be able to do his job, he clearly pushes his investigative strategy beyond a reasonable point. David Bruser is sending me emails inferring that he “knows where I live and knows what I drive”, and leading me to suspect that he may possibly be viewing my children’s social media postings and photos. In my view, which is likely shared by many parents, this possibility is alarming and disturbing.

Kevin Donovan of the Toronto Star with concerns that I may have pictures of David Bruser’s home and access to his family’s online photos. It appears that the Toronto Star may believe that harassing and intimidating families is only acceptable if done by them.

The Toronto Star has recently announced layoffs and fourth quarter losses in the hundreds of millions; and one can only assume that each and every reporter is looking to show their worth.

Meanwhile Credit Slab is still hiring and growing at a healthy rate. We look so forward to continuing with the same level of success. We will also continue to offer many of our pro bono services to the military and veterans and invest in our Credit Slab Cares charitable and volunteer programs.

We hope that you can see past the Toronto Star and David Bruser’s apparent need to sensationalize a not very interesting story by portraying myself as a so-called “Loan Wolf”. Those that know me well know that 90% of my day is spent giving and sharing. I dedicate countless hours to causes that support the community.

I personally want to let everyone know how touched I have been this past week by your positive and supportive emails and phone calls. Customers and the public have provided testimonials which you can see on the statement posted on the Credit Slab website over this issue.

David Bruser also seems to think that all of our customers are in debt and cash strapped, when that is simply not the fact. Our customers are people just like anyone else; however, they typically have suffered financial setbacks and are looking for a second chance to get back on their feet. We help those that are in need and are prepared to demonstrate commitment to improvement of their credit.

We are very thankful for those customers whom have come forward to extend their appreciation and support since the Toronto Star released their over sensationalized story.