© United Jewish Appeal/Canadian Press
Nearly a week after a
team of private investigators that included several former Toronto homicide detectives said they found evidence of foul play, the Toronto Police Department said Friday that they will now investigate the deaths of
billionaire philanthropists Barry and Honey Sherman as a "targeted" double-homicide, according to
CBC. The police made the announcement during a 1 pm ET press conference.
Barry, 75, and Honey, 70,
were found dead by a real estate agent in the basement of their Toronto mansion on Dec. 15.
An autopsy revealed the cause of death for both to be "ligature neck compression," meaning strangulation. Police initially believed it was a "
suspicious" murder-suicide. The Shermans are believed to possess a fortune worth nearly $5 billion thanks to Barry Sherman's Apotex, a Canadian pharmaceutical giant that specializes in producing generic copies of popular drugs.
At the time of his death, Sherman and his company were embroiled in multiple lawsuits.
A source with direct knowledge of the parallel probe told CBC Toronto that private investigators believe that the billionaire Toronto couple was murdered by multiple killers.
The couple's children expressed outrage at the media's willingness to jump to conclusions in the murder case after the deaths were reported as a "murder-suicide" before the official police announcement.
As we reported previously, the Sherman's were popular on Toronto's gala circuit and were said to be excited about their newest grandchild at the time of their deaths.
Indeed, the Sherman's gifts included multimillion-dollar donations to hospitals, schools and charities and had buildings named in their honor.
They also gave generously to Jewish organizations.
They even hosted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for a Liberal party fundraiser in 2015. In a statement released following the initial reports of their deaths, Trudeau said he and his wife were "saddened" and offered "our condolences" to their friends and family.
Comment: More information from the
National Post:
After weeks of police silence on the case, Det. Sgt. Susan Gomes of the Toronto police homicide unit gave a public update Friday afternoon, shortly after the Sherman mansion was finally handed back to the control of their family.
...
Police found no signs of forced entry on all access points to the home, she said.
...
After the announcement, the family said they were not surprised by the police conclusion.
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The Sherman's were one of Canada's richest couples; Barry's story of building a huge pharmaceutical empire was compelling and his fiercely litigious and pit-bull style of business became legendary; and the couple's generous philanthropy made them enormously influential and well loved.
...
Barry Sherman knew he had enemies and years before his death he wondered aloud why someone hadn't hired someone to kill him.
"They hate us. They have private investigators on us all the time, trying to investigate. The thought once came to my mind, why didn't they just hire someone to knock me off. For a thousand bucks paid to the right person you can probably get someone killed. Perhaps I'm surprised that hasn't happened," Barry Sherman told American author Jeffrey Robinson during an interview in 2000.
The shadowy "they" he spoke of were those profiting handsomely from the huge, international brand-name pharmaceutical industry.
Sherman made it his business to smash the pharmaceutical cartels by punching holes in their patent protection and wiggling through intellectual property rights to allow him to bring generic versions of popular and profitable medicine to market.
Meanwhile, Apotex Inc. president and CEO Jeremy Desai has resigned effective immediately from the generic drug giant that Sherman started. Jack Kay, who previously served as CEO for the privately held company, will be the chief executive while maintaining his current position as vice-chairman.
On Thursday, the federal lobbying watchdog ended its investigation into a complaint over fundraising efforts by the Shermans for Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party. Their deaths were cited as the reason for closing the file. Apotex was registered to lobby the Prime Minister's Office when the Shermans hosted a fundraiser in their home in 2015, and sold tickets to an event in 2016.
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