Texts from ‘Randy’ raise questions about minister’s role at company while in office, Boissonnault denies

globalnews.ca:

Text messages obtained by Global News raise questions about whether Employment MinisterRandy Boissonnault engaged with his former business partner on deals a year after he joined the federal cabinet, but Boissonnault denies that he’s the “Randy” referenced in the exchange.

The text exchange, which occurred in September 2022, was between Stephen Anderson, who co-founded Global Health Imports with Boissonnault in early 2020, and Malvina Ghaoui, the principal of The Ghaoui Group, LLC, a California-based personal protective equipment (PPE) procurement company.

In conversation with Ghaoui, Anderson wrote “Randy” told him to “be available in 15 for a partner call.”

Anderson and Ghaoui were discussing a deposit of approximately $500,000 that Ghaoui Group was to send to GHI to secure a large shipment of nitrile gloves. Anderson was asking Ghaoui why the deposit had not been sent yet and apparently forwarded her a message directly from Boissonnault.

“Anderson, it’s 13:14 MST and 15:14 EST it literally takes 10 seconds to complete a (wire) transfer,” the person referred to only as “Randy” allegedly wrote to Anderson. “I am telling you we are NOT ALLOCATING like this, please reach out and see what the reason is now, you assured me this morning this was done first thing…Be available in 15 for a partner call.”

In another text to Ghaoui sent 30 minutes later, Anderson said he had consulted with “Randy” and GHI employees over the phone regarding the deposit, “I have spoken to Shawna, Felix and Randy again … We are following up again at 1440 on allocations and will determine what we need to do as an organization.”

When asked if he worked with another Randy, Anderson stated that he did, but would not disclose the employee’s full name. He