AlphaBow: the monitor asked the bank

For two years this was a working file. AlphaBow Energy Ltd. filed a notice of intention in March 2024, continued into the CCAA in April, ran a sale and investment solicitation process through Sayer Energy Advisors, and sold assets in tranche after tranche — to Cascade Capture, to Cenovus, to North 40 Resources, to Response Energy, with a reverse vesting order along the way transferring AlphaBow's shares to Resurgent, per Fourteenth Report of the Monitor, June 24, 2026, paras. 1.1(1)–(17).

Two transactions were left. One of them needed a security deposit posted with the Alberta Energy Regulator before it could close. On June 5, 2026, the buyer was ready and the deposit was not paid, per Fourteenth Report, June 24, 2026, para. 2.0(2).

Everything in this report follows from that.

What the deposit was for

The AER's renewed decision of March 16, 2026 required AlphaBow to post security to effect closing of the Remaining Transactions. For the Cascade Transaction, the amount required under AER Application #1960293 was $9,053,918. The Resurgent Corporate Transaction needs no deposit and would close once Cascade completed, per Fourteenth Report, June 24, 2026, para. 2.0(2).

That requirement had already been litigated. In September 2025 the company applied for a declaration that any AER request for a security deposit is stayed, and that its failure to pay one could not be relied on in deciding whether to approve a licence transfer. Justice Bourque dismissed the application, and in November 2025 the company sought permission to appeal, per Fourteenth Report, June 24, 2026, para. 1.1(21).

So the company had tried the legal route to avoid posting, lost it, and then simply did not post.

Three weeks in June

The monitor contacted Ben Li, who had acted as the company's corporate officer for the duration of the proceedings. He gave no substantive explanation for the deposit not being paid, per Fourteenth Report, June 24, 2026, para. 3.1(1).

On June 12, Bennett Jones filed a notice of withdrawal as lawyer of record. The monitor describes it as unexpected, per Fourteenth Report, June 24, 2026, para. 3.1(2).

Further attempts to reach Mr. Li produced no substantive response. Then his personal counsel wrote to say he had resigned as an officer, effective June 15. Since the withdrawal notice and the resignation letter, the monitor has had no contact from the company or any of its representatives or agents, per Fourteenth Report, June 24, 2026, paras. 3.1(3)–(5).

On June 16, counsel for Cascade contacted the monitor's counsel with allegations that Mr. Li may have personally, or through an entity he controls, withdrawn funds from the company, per Fourteenth Report, June 24, 2026, para. 3.1(6).

The monitor wrote on June 17. As at the date of the report, neither Mr. Li nor the company had responded to the allegations, provided an update on the company's financial status, or reported performance against the cash flow statement filed with the Thirteenth Report, per Fourteenth Report, June 24, 2026, para. 3.1(7).

The bank statements

Unable to reach anyone, the monitor asked the bank.

On June 22 BMO provided statements for March, April and May 2026 and a summary of June transactions. The company's cash balance as at June 12, 2026 was $4,076.87 — against an anticipated balance of approximately $9 million, per Fourteenth Report, June 24, 2026, para. 3.2(1).

Then the comparison that gives this report its appendices. On March 19, 2026 the company had provided the monitor with a BMO Cash Position Report showing a cash balance of $9,229,255. The statement obtained from BMO for the same date shows $29,255, per Fourteenth Report, June 24, 2026, para. 3.2(2).

The monitor attaches both — the bank's statement at Appendix "D", and at Appendix "E" what its own index calls the Falsified BMO March 2026 Cash Position Report.

It then obtained every statement from 2024 through 2026. Its account of what those show is that for the duration of the proceedings after January 2025, the company provided false financial reporting by manually manipulating the BMO cash position reports to support its ending cash balances and to conceal the payment of a bank draft to the shareholder, per Fourteenth Report, June 24, 2026, para. 3.2(5).

By January 2026, on the monitor's reading, the remaining cash could no longer fund the company's legitimate expenses. Between January and April 2026, transfers totalling $1 million came into the company's account from account #0010-1889-558 — the Returned Funds — and those transactions were themselves concealed and altered in the reporting given to the monitor. BMO's records identify the source account as belonging to the shareholder. On June 23, 2026, BMO told the monitor that account has since been closed, per Fourteenth Report, June 24, 2026, para. 3.2(6).

The monitor's preliminary conclusion is that approximately $9 million — the bank draft amount, net of the returned funds — was wrongfully withdrawn from the company's bank account, and that the withdrawals were consistently and deliberately concealed from it throughout the proceedings. It calls this the Misappropriation, and says it is aware of no legitimate basis for the bank draft, per Fourteenth Report, June 24, 2026, para. 3.2(7).

All of that is the monitor's account on a preliminary investigation. Mr. Li and the company have not responded to it, and no court has determined any of it.

The monitor adds the observation that matters to the estate: even if the Cascade Transaction never proceeded and the money was never paid to the AER, the withdrawn funds should have been available to satisfy the claims of CCAA stakeholders — including the AER and the Orphan Well Association, per Fourteenth Report, June 24, 2026, para. 3.2(7).

An empty company

The reason the monitor asked for enhanced powers rather than a receiver is set out plainly: because of the resignation, the company has no officer, no management and no employees; its email accounts appear no longer to be in operation; and it has no legal counsel. The monitor states it has lost faith in the ability of AlphaBow's management to act in good faith and with due diligence, per Fourteenth Report, June 24, 2026, para. 4.0(3).

The Enhanced Powers sought, granted by an order pronounced June 26, 2026, with the court reserving its decision on certain of the powers to a further order pronounced June 30, let the monitor collect all monies owed; deal with administrative matters including controlling the company's bank accounts; enter agreements and incur obligations on the company's behalf to close the remaining transactions; compel any person holding books, records, accounting, documents or correspondence relating to the allegations and the transactions leading to the Misappropriation; market the property and seek vesting orders if necessary; and engage counsel, investigators, forensic accountants and experts to advance the investigation, per Fourteenth Report, June 24, 2026, para. 4.0(2) and Order for Enhancement of Monitor's Powers and Stay Extension, pronounced June 26, 2026 and Order for Enhancement of Monitor's Powers and Stay Extension, pronounced June 30, 2026.

The monitor's stated reason for preferring this to a receivership is efficiency: although AlphaBow has not been acting in good faith and with due diligence, continuing these proceedings with an expanded monitor is more efficient at this point than converting, per Fourteenth Report, June 24, 2026, para. 6.0(2)(c).

What is actually left

The funds the monitor holds in trust, to June 19, 2026: sale proceeds of $3,504,000, interest of $113,000 and other income of $33,000 received; payments to the Orphan Well Association of $1,688,000, GST of $87,000, professional fees of $95,000 and bank charges out. Ending balance approximately $1,572,000, of which roughly $212,000 relates to the remaining RCAM holdback — and the monitor notes further RCAM invoices have been issued and remain unpaid, per Fourteenth Report, June 24, 2026, para. 5.0(1).

The stay was extended to August 28, 2026. The monitor could not file a cash flow forecast supporting the extension, for the reason it gives without embarrassment: in the absence of any financial reporting from the company, it cannot present one. Its position is that the funds it holds itself will be enough to close the remaining transactions, investigate, and finish the proceedings, per Fourteenth Report, June 24, 2026, paras. 6.0(1)–(2)(f).

That is an unusual sentence to find in a stay extension application, and it is the most complete description of this file's position. The company is gone. The monitor is what remains of it, funded by what it has already collected, looking for about $9 million.