OTTAWA—A disgraced former adviser to Stephen Harper bought a home with an ex-prostitute — and convicted money launderer — before meeting the young former escort whose water sanitation company is at the centre of illegal lobbying allegations.
Bruce Carson, 65, bought a condo in downtown Ottawa with Barbara Lynn Khan, 43, who served time for money laundering and running a prostitution ring with her estranged husband in North Carolina before being deported back to Canada, public records show.
Harper asked the RCMP to investigate his friend and former adviser last month ahead of a report by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network alleging Carson was peddling his political influence to help a fledgling Ottawa-based company sell water filtration equipment to aboriginal communities. The television network then reported Carson was engaged to a 22-year-old former escort named Michele McPherson, who was a principal in the company and at one point stood to gain 20 per cent of sales.
There were already questions about how someone who had been disbarred, was twice convicted of fraud, had once filed for bankruptcy and was still in heavy debt got a job working for the prime minister. But then The Canadian Press reported earlier this week that Carson actually had a total of five convictions for fraud and had received court-ordered psychiatric treatment.
Newly discovered court records show Khan — who according to previously reported property records bought and shared a $400,000 condo with Carson in November 2009 — was one of seven people operating a prostitution ring in five different states that would advertise in pornographic magazines.
Neither Carson nor his lawyer responded to requests for comment Friday and Khan could not be reached.
“Fear and intimidation were used with customers who failed to pay or were deemed to have been too rough with the prostitutes,” Quebec Superior Court Judge Jean-Pierre Plouffe wrote in October 2004 while refusing bail to the husband, Saleemudeem Khan, who was later extradited to the U.S.
APTN reported Friday that Khan was romantically involved with Carson throughout his time working for Harper from 2006 to 2008 and then followed him to Calgary when he became the executive director of the Canadian School of Energy and Environment.
According to the report, Khan and Carson were still engaged to be married when he asked for the hand of McPherson, a former escort who he bought a home with near Kemptville, Ont., south of Ottawa last December.
Carson also bought a $484,000 home in Manotick, Ont. with his estranged wife, Janet Treasure, in 2008.
The Canadian Press reported Thursday that Carson was cleared by a low or mid-level bureaucrat without any involvement by senior security officials, Harper or his inner circle. The Privy Council Office is now reviewing its screening procedures