2301 Benedet: the 'cash only' Esso and five offers in 25 days

On March 20, 2026, the debit and credit card readers on the fuel pumps at 2301 Benedet Drive in Mississauga were found covered with a sign that read "cash only." Card receipts from the Esso station, which had been deposited to its account at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, had decreased dramatically starting March 11, and the signs were still up on April 8 and 9, when, the court found, the readers were fully operational, per the Endorsement of Fowler Byrne J., Apr. 30, 2026, paras. 2, 10(e)–(g), (j). The company said the system was malfunctioning and offered no evidence of it, Justice Fowler Byrne wrote; it "admitted to intentionally changing their banking to Scotiabank and sought payment through cash, as they feared their accounts would be frozen," per the Endorsement of Fowler Byrne J., Apr. 30, 2026, para. 10(k)–(l).

The owner is 16261311 Canada Inc., incorporated on August 2, 2024, whose sole director, the receiver understands, is Macbeth Abraham Vargas. On or around August 26, 2025 it bought the land from 2701163 Ontario Inc., along with an assignment of the station's motor fuel supply agreement with Global Fuels Inc. The site has four fuel pumps with eight dispensers, three underground tanks holding approximately 150,000 litres, and a convenience store of about 1,500 square feet believed to date from around 1979, per the First Report of the Receiver, Sept. 4, 2026, paras. 1.2.1–1.2.3. CIBC had lent to the company under a credit agreement dated July 18, 2025, secured by a $4.0 million collateral mortgage registered on August 26, 2025 and a general security agreement, and had taken a personal guarantee from Mr. Vargas, per the First Report of the Receiver, Sept. 4, 2026, paras. 4.2.1–4.2.2.

Four months into the receivership, BDO Canada Limited is asking the court to bring it to an end. Its motion, returnable September 25 in Brampton, seeks approval of a sale of the property to 1001713370 Ontario Inc. at a price filed under seal, a distribution of the net proceeds to CIBC, approval of its reports and of its own and its counsel's fees, a discharge and release, and authority, though not an obligation, to assign the company into bankruptcy, per the Notice of Motion, Sept. 4, 2026, paras. 1–2.

Two attendances in April

CIBC's application first came before Justice C. Wilkinson by video conference on April 23. Mr. Vargas appeared for the company and asked for an adjournment: he had been served with the application record five days earlier and intended to hire counsel. The judge adjourned for one week, peremptory on the company, with responding materials due by 4:30 p.m. on April 28. In the meantime she granted CIBC an interim receivership order on its affidavit evidence that the station's signs said it accepted cash only and that the company no longer held its deposit accounts at the bank, per the Endorsement of Justice Wilkinson, Apr. 23, 2026, paras. 2–6.

That afternoon BDO, as interim receiver, emailed Mr. Vargas asking him to confirm by 3:00 p.m. that the cash-only signs were down and to move the card terminals and deposits from Scotiabank back to CIBC by noon the next day. He did not come to the station on April 24, or on April 27 for a meeting he had confirmed in the one phone call he took. On April 24 the signs were gone, though one pump told customers to pay inside first; two pumps were out of diesel, and the store was minimally stocked, with no lottery tickets or cigarettes, per the Interim Report of the Interim Receiver, Apr. 29, 2026 (Motion Record, Tab 2, App. "C"), paras. 12–16, 20.

Counsel appeared for the company on April 30, newly retained, having served responding materials the night before. The company asked for 10 more days to bring its over-limit position current and deal with its taxes and insurance, arguing that a debt of approximately $50,000 should not cost it a receivership and its equity in the business, per the Endorsement of Fowler Byrne J., Apr. 30, 2026, paras. 6–7. Justice Fowler Byrne set out what she weighed against that: a debt of approximately $4.2 million, advanced only in July 2025; borrowing over its limits by approximately $25,000 in early March, with repayment promised within 24 hours and then by March 12, and neither made; a further extension to $31,000 within six weeks; a demand and BIA notice on March 24; a listing of the station for sale on March 27, withdrawn on March 29; $22,769 in municipal tax arrears; and, since the interim order, no deposits returned to CIBC and no information given to the interim receiver, per the Endorsement of Fowler Byrne J., Apr. 30, 2026, para. 10. The company's assurances of cooperation, she wrote, "are not reassuring given the previous six weeks of false promises and the active diversion of sales." She granted leave to file the company's responding record and factum and appointed BDO receiver and manager under s. 243(1) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and s. 101 of the Courts of Justice Act, per the Endorsement of Fowler Byrne J., Apr. 30, 2026, paras. 8, 12–13.

What the receiver found at the pumps

When BDO arrived on April 30, the pumps were shut down because fuel in the tanks had fallen below the minimum level needed to run them. The pump certifications and calibrations had expired in August 2025, the month of the purchase, and the Technical Standards and Safety Authority certificates for the station and its propane cylinder exchange had expired in February 2026 and December 2025, still in the previous owner's name. Two attendants would not say whether they were employees or contractors, or whether they were owed wages, per the First Report of the Receiver, Sept. 4, 2026, paras. 2.3.1–2.3.4.

Apart from a 60-day sales report from the point-of-sale software, there were no computers and no books or records at the property. BDO wrote to Mr. Vargas, and through its counsel to his, on numerous occasions between April 23 and May 11; neither replied, per the First Report of the Receiver, Sept. 4, 2026, para. 2.4.1. A May 7 letter from the receiver's counsel to the company's lawyer set a deadline of the next day and warned: "Continued failure to respond is a contravention of a court order," per the Motion Record, Sept. 4, 2026, Tab 2, App. "E" (letter of May 7, 2026). What the receiver knows came from third parties, among them the company's Scotiabank statements, its insurance policies and Global Fuels' consumption reports. The Canada Revenue Agency told BDO the company had filed no payroll source deduction or corporate tax returns, and no HST returns since at least June 30, 2025, per the First Report of the Receiver, Sept. 4, 2026, paras. 2.4.1, 2.8.1.

BDO paid the insurance arrears, had TSSA issue new certificates in the company's name after an inspection, and paid Terrapex Environmental Ltd. $750 to remove three drums of unknown liquid, two labelled as its soil cuttings and ground water, per the First Report of the Receiver, Sept. 4, 2026, paras. 2.3.7, 2.5.2, 2.9.2–2.9.3. On May 7 Global Fuels demanded $50,000 under a standby letter of credit CIBC had issued on the company's behalf, and CIBC paid it on May 19; Global Fuels also said it would not exercise the right of first refusal in its supply agreement or bid, per the First Report of the Receiver, Sept. 4, 2026, paras. 2.10.1–2.10.2.