Frank Ostrowski asks to cancel bankruptcy in anticipation of payout from wrongful conviction suit

Frank Ostrowski is backing out of a 2019 bankruptcy claim, and instead plans to pay more than $250,000 in debt with money he expects to receive from a wrongful conviction lawsuit.

In an affidavit filed in Manitoba's Court of Queen's Bench in June, Ostrowski said when he applied for bankruptcy in February 2019, he didn't think to tell the bankruptcy trustee that he intended to file a multi-million dollar civil lawsuit addressing his conviction for murder which was set aside in 2018.

"I did not secure any legal advice before making this assignment in bankruptcy. Therefore, I did not know to mention my intention to commence a claim for my wrongful conviction," Ostrowski's affidavit said. "I believed the claim was irrelevant to my assignment in bankruptcy."

Last month Ostrowski sued the Attorney General of Canada, the City of Winnipeg, two Winnipeg police chiefs and a number of officers and lawyers who were involved in his case.

He's seeking more than $16 million in compensation and a declaration that a miscarriage of justice occurred because two important pieces of evidence were not disclosed to him, which he says violated his right to a fair trial.

In court filings in the bankruptcy case, Ostrowski says his lawyer in the civil lawsuit told him that he should have disclosed his intention to sue, so he's now asking Manitoba's Court of Queen's Bench to annul his case.

"In view of the compensation I may receive by way of a settlement or judgment from a claim for wrongful conviction, I wish to annul this assignment in bankruptcy. If I am successful in my action, I intend to settle with my creditors," said Ostrowski's affidavit.

The motion will be heard on Tuesday.

Conviction set aside in 2018

Ostrowski was a high-level cocaine trafficker in Winnipeg in the 1980s. In 1986, police raided his home and found $150,000 worth of cocaine and $50,000 cash stashed in two hidden compartments.

In 1987, a jury found Ostrowski guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Robert Nieman. At the trial, the Crown said Ostrowski believed Nieman had ratted him out to police, which led to his arrest for drug trafficking. Court heard Ostrowski arranged for two men to kill Nieman and provided them with the gun.

Ostrowski was released on bail in 2009 after spending 23 years in prison. In 2014, the federal justice minister at the time, Peter MacKay, referred the case to Manitoba's Court of Appeal for a possible miscarriage of justice.

In 2018, the court set aside the conviction after a panel of three judges found a miscarriage of justice occurred when two pieces of important information were not disclosed to the defence or the jury at trial — including the fact that one of the crown's witnesses had received a plea deal on drug charges.

While the court set aside Ostrowski's conviction, it did not acquit him. In their decision the judges said they believed there was enough evidence against the accused, and that the jury could have found him guilty even if the information had been disclosed.

The court found that it would be unfair to order a second trial since it had been 32 years since the shooting and entered a judicial stay of proceedings.

According to court filings, of the $260,000 Ostrowski owes, approximately $40,000 is to banks and credit card companies, $160,000 to the Canada Revenue Agency, and $60,000 for a personal loan. He has filed for bankruptcy twice before — once in 1980, and again in 1983.

In his 2019 bankruptcy claim Ostrowski wrote "misfortune, non-payment of income tax" as the reasons for his money troubles this time around.