Olympic Gold Medalist Allegedly Fakes Brain Cancer To Avoid Day In Court

Canadian Eric Lamaze is an Olympic gold medal-winning showjumper. He's also a fraudster, according to a judge. And not a good one.

The 55-year-old found himself in a half-million-dollar lawsuit with Iron Horse Farm after he allegedly sold them three horses that were not up to the quality promised in 2010. According to legal filings submitted in civil court in July, Lamaze looked to delay litigation by claiming that he was suffering from metastatic brain cancer.

Avoiding Court Dates Is Nothing New For Eric Lamaze, Apparently

The plaintiff's attorneys alleged that Lamaze made similar claims just four years prior and therefore didn't believe his end-stage cancer claims this time around. The court did some digging into his medical documents and found them to be fake.

Eric Lamaze of Canada found to have faked brain cancer. (Photo credit should read DAVID HECKER/AFP via Getty Images)

Timothy Danson, Lamaze's attorney, told the court via July's filings that his client had been battling brain cancer "for a number of years" and that it had now spread to his throat. An affidavit was also filed which featured three photographs that showed Lamaze's "disfigured face after surgery." When the plaintiff's attorneys asked to see the images, Danson objected while claiming it was "unseemly" before requesting the pictures be struck from the record. The court declined, and the red flag was officially raised.

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Lamaze's lawyers also sent a copy of his medical records in July that was written in Dutch by a doctor named Oulad Taib. The plaintiff's attorney soon found that the doctor's name was listed differently on his website and in his own biography stated that he speaks English, Arabic, and French, but not Dutch.

Eric Lamaze's Medical Records Found To Be Fakes

A private detective hired by the plaintiffs was able to get Dr. Taib to confirm that the signature on his purported report is not his and that he does not speak the Dutch language,” the justice recalled. Another document from a separate doctor was also found by the investigator to be phony, according to Horse Sport.

Lamaze also happened to be on record with the Toronto Star conceding dishonesty. He admitted the documents were "a little mistake" and that he was "deceitful" to "protect some doctors and protect this and that."

Eric Lamaze won an Olympic gold medal in 2008. (Photo credit should read DAVID HECKER/AFP via Getty Images)

Perhaps the real tipping point of Lamaze's dishonesty goes back to his similar stunt in 2019.

According to one of the plaintiff's lawyers, Lamaze claimed to be on "his deathbed for brain cancer" while avoiding a deposition. The court recounted that he was involved in three separate equestrian events in Florida around the time of the deposition.

Lamaze is now required to pay the plaintiffs around $30,000 in costs. If he does not pay the costs then the plaintiff's claims will be made valid.

Danson explained to The Daily Beast that he doesn't see a reality in which Lamaze forks over the $30,000.

"You’ll knock me over with a feather if he pays the money and shows up to defend the case,” Danson said.