Uncover - S21 E4: The Winters are Coming | "The No Good, Terribly Kind, Wonderful Lives and Tragic Deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman"

Episode Date: June 26, 2023

It is no secret that some family members wanted Barry Sherman dead. And no one had a bigger grudge against Barry than his first cousins, Kerry Winter and his brothers. The Winter cousins were close to Barry — especially Kerry. They were father/son close. And the Winter boys lived well off Barry's money. But that good blood turned bad after a 10-year court battle that pitted cousin against cousin, in a fight over a billion-dollar fortune of which the Winters claimed their cousin robbed them.For transcripts of this series, please visit here.Kerry Winter on The Fifth Estate

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Binge listen to the entire series by searching for the no good, terribly kind, wonderful lives and tragic deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman, wherever you get your podcasts. and tragic deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman, wherever you get your podcasts. You can also listen ad-free by subscribing to the CBC True Crime channel on Apple Podcasts. AllianceGate Sound and CBC Podcast Production. Do you watch Succession?

The HBO hit series about a ruthless billionaire family, the Roys, fighting over who will take over their father's media empire, none of the kids get along. They're all competing for their dad's favor, and he has no problem setting one kid up against the other, sometimes to help the business, but sometimes it seems just for sport. It's sick and dark and really addictive.

Succession's wild popularity is partly because we're fascinated by the rich, the dysfunctional elite, the warring relatives fighting over huge fortunes, which helps explain why the deaths of Honey and Barry Sherman have captured so much of the public's attention. Just like the fictional Roy's, the Shermans were billionaires. And just like the Roy's, the Shermans were involved in a cutthroat industry filled with intrigue. What we haven't told you about yet is the family infighting. And just like Succession, the story behind it all, it's a doozy.

Welcome to the no-good, terribly kind, wonderful lives and tragic deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman. I'm your host, Kathleen Goldhar. And this is Chapter Four, The Winters are coming. Like most family dramas, to understand them, you have to go back to the very beginning. Remember when I told you about Barry's uncle, Lou Winter? Lou was a pioneer of the generic drug industry who hired Barry when he was still in university, introducing him to the world of patents and fighting big pharma. I met Barry, and then Lou died very suddenly. That's Murray Rubin again, a longtime friend of Barry's. I spoke to him and his wife, Rhoda. a longtime friend of Barry's.

I spoke to him and his wife, Rhoda. We had gone out for dinner. Do you remember that? With Lou and his wife. I would say a month before she died, we didn't know she was sick. I believe she had cancer, but I don't remember the cause of death for him.

But it was, we couldn't get over it. We had just seen them and he looked fine. And they had young kids. Yeah, I couldn't get over it. We had just seen them. And they looked fine. And they had young kids. Yeah. I think they had five kids. I'm not sure. Maybe it's only three. Actually, it was four.

All boys, all under the age of seven. Do you know what happened to the kids? They were adopted by another family. I can't remember the name. I wish I remembered. The problem with me is memory now at this age. The tragedy was decades ago, and details understandably fade. In 1965, Lou and his wife Beverly died just weeks apart. Lou unexpectedly of a brain aneurysm.

And then just 17 days later, Beverly died from leukemia. She was 31. Their four young children, Dana, Jeffrey, Carrie, and Tim were suddenly orphaned. A Jewish family in the community adopted the boys. And as they grew up, the Winter brothers had a really tough go of it. It's a really sad story. They struggled with drugs and lost touch with Barry completely. That's Canadian journalist Matthew Campbell, the Bloomberg reporter. Really having a terribly hard time and with no idea that they were related to someone who was so wealthy. So when they did reconnect, which was in the late 80s, Barry, as he often was, was extremely generous.

He helped them with everything he could. He would bankroll business ideas, help them pay for things like drug rehab, really trying to turn their lives around. And we actually do know how Barry felt about reconnecting with his younger cousins. When they came to see me, they were in trouble. They were drug addicts. Carrie was a drug addict. Dana was a drug addict.

This audio of Barry was obtained by CBC News, The Fifth Estate. They did a documentary about a bitter lawsuit between Barry and the Winter Brothers. This clip is from a 2017 deposition. I did everything I could to help them, even to start their own businesses. With Kerry here, I said to him, I asked him, what is it you want to do, Kerry? You got to make something out of yourself. He said he wanted to do renovations. I said, fine, I'll finance a

renovations business for you. Get some training, buy a property, work on it. And Kerry, who was only four years old when his parents died, took him up on that offer. I had this billionaire who was about to give me anything I wanted. He said, I want to help you make a life for yourself. It slowly started off with a couple hundred thousand, but within three, four, five years, it was houses and cottages and sports cars. And literally it steamrolled and snowballed into about 15 years later being about five, six, seven million. In his deposition, Barry said he believed he did right by the Winter Brothers, that he did everything he could to help them. And Kerry concedes that Barry did totally support his lifestyle and his business. Kerry concedes that Barry did totally support his lifestyle and his business.

Barry also backed his brother Dana's jewelry business and helped his other brother Jeff with his travel company. So I'm simply saying that I'm a person who does like to help friends and relatives and other people to the extent that I reasonably can. The rest of the audio from Barry's deposition is a bit hard to make out. What he goes on to say is that, quote, I think I'm a generous person. Who else would spend $15 million trying to help his cousins establish careers for themselves?

And for a while, things were getting better for both men. I mean, they had had a very close relationship, Carrie and Barry, and they would talk. They enjoyed being in each other's company. They spent a lot of time together. But then, things began to unravel. I don't think anyone else in his right mind would have done for them what I did. I spent about $15 million trying to help the three of them, all down the drain. Trying year after year after year to help them make better lives for themselves.

This is the actor Saul Rubinick again, reading from Barry Sherman's deposition. It outlines how Barry did help the Winter Brothers, how he took Dana under his wing, getting him a job at Apotex, hoping it might kickstart a career. Then I moved him up to Deerhurst Resort. He worked there for a long time, and he was dealing in drugs there. Then I moved him out to BC, and he was dealing in drugs there. And then he got involved in a murder case. Remember I told you this story was a doozy? In 1995, Dana, who had been dealing drugs, was charged with conspiracy to commit murder of a man who Dana believed had ratted him out to the police.

Barry was asked about this during a deposition. Were you involved in that murder case, sir? The lawyer is being read by an actor here. I was involved to the extent of going out, flying out. You didn't help him commit murder, did you? You heard that right. The lawyer just asked Barry if he

helped Dana commit a murder. No, no, no. Let's look at that. I did fly out to BC and get him out on bail. And when he was out on bail... You flew out yourself. Yes. I put up a $100,000 bond to get him out on bail. Hired the criminal lawyer in British Columbia, got him out on bail... You flew out yourself. Yes. I put up a $100,000 bond to get him out on bail. Hired the criminal lawyer in British Columbia, got him out on bail. And he was dead a couple of weeks later from an overdose.

Dan had died of an overdose while he was out on bail. He was just 33. The relationship between the remaining Winter brothers and Barry stayed strong for a few more years. But that all changed when Jeffrey Winter discovered something about the sale of Empire Labs, his late father's business. Barry bought Empire Labs when Lou's children were still very young. But Barry had agreed to include a clause that stipulated when Lou's children came of age, they would have the option of buying 20% of the company. Six years after Barry bought Empire Labs, he sold it for $2 million. And he used that money to help start Apotex, a business that would eventually be worth billions of dollars. When the Winter brothers learned about the clause,

they felt cheated out of a fortune. They wanted their 20%. And since Empire Labs was gone, they believed they had a right to a portion of Apotex, a claim that would have been worth about a billion dollars at the time. And that was the basis of the lawsuit they launched against their cousin Barry,

the one that really ripped the families apart. Sure, Barry used the $2 million he got from selling Empire Labs to help start Apotex, but he didn't believe that the Winter brothers had any claim to his new business. And according to Barry, Kerry Winter was furious. business. And according to Barry, Kerry Winter was furious. One day, Kerry, I can't remember when, Kerry phones me up and he was absolutely in a wild, and he told me that he figured out that I was helping them because I didn't want them to find out that I was involved in some conspiracy to deprive them of their inheritance in the 1960s. Kerry Winter began to believe that Barry's years of generosity was really part of a convoluted conspiracy,

that Barry was placating them so they would never go after the 20% of apotex that the brothers believed they were due. Of course, I told Kerry the whole thing was ridiculous. The implication is that I anticipated that they were going to sue me and I lent them money and lost millions of dollars. That somehow that would give me control over them, that they wouldn't bring an action, which is preposterous, makes no sense. I had no idea they were going to bring an action. In any event, how does it stop them from bringing an action? In typical Barry fashion, after the Winters sued him,

he sued them back. And he didn't just ask to have the millions of dollars he lent his cousins over the years repaid, he wanted his legal fees covered too. So for 14 years, it was okay to help the Winter children, but now that they have sued you, it is no longer okay. That's an actor representing another lawyer for Carrie Winter, Ely Scarlett. Incidentally, Ely is also Carrie's ex-wife.

Well, let's assume there is a connection there. So what? Are you suggesting I have an obligation to support people who are suing me? And you've always loaned them money. Lent. Loaned is not a... Lent them money. Lent them money, yes. Allow me one digression. At the Sherman's funeral, more

than one person spoke about Barry's tendency to correct people's grammar. They made it sound endearing. It's not. It's condescending. If you're telling me I was foolish and should have cut him off much earlier, that's probably true, with hindsight. I'm not telling you anything. I'm asking you questions. That's all I'm asking right now, Dr. Sherman. I'm not telling you anything. I think your tone of voice is saying certain things.

saying certain things. We all know that this was not Barry's first legal battle. But usually, Barry employed the legal system for business. Very impersonal fights. Clearly, this one was personal. This is what Kerry Winter alleges Barry said to him. He said, you know, not too many people have a cousin, Barry. Do you know what I mean by that, Kerry? Do you hear what I'm saying? And he leaned forward and he looked at me. He says, you won't beat me. Do you understand that? Do you know who I am? And Barry was right.

They didn't beat him. On September 15th, 2017, more than 10 years after the court battle began, and three months before the Shermans were found dead, the Winters case was dismissed. The judge who threw it out called their claim wishful thinking and beyond fanciful. The court decided that original agreement applied only to Lou Winters' former company, Empire Labs, which Barry Sherman had sold off before he formed Apotex. Even worse, his cousin Barry was calling in all the IOUs Kerry Winter had signed for the cash advances he'd been given over all those years. So Kerry Winter now owed Barry Sherman $8 million. Kerry had to sell his house and a cottage to pay up. It should have ended

there, right? I mean, the case was dismissed. The Shermans were dead. But no. A day after the funeral, lawyers representing Barry filed an appeal. They wanted an additional $900,000

in legal fees. It's as though Barry Sherman was litigating from the grave. In 2017, it felt like drugs were everywhere in the news. So I started a podcast called On Drugs. We covered a lot of ground over two seasons, but there are still so many more stories to tell. On Drugs is available now wherever you get your podcasts. So I was heartbroken. I was betrayed. And so, a month after the Shermans were found dead, while the theory was still murder-suicide,

Kerry Winter agreed to do this interview with the Fifth Estate on CBC. It proved to be incredibly controversial. He wasn't this loving, kind person giving money away, pillar of the Jewish community. He cared about one thing, money, making lots of it, and not caring who he destroyed, who he stepped on, or who he fucked over, like me and my brothers. That's Kerry Winter, clearly emotional and full of spite for Barry Sherman. This whole documentary is wild. Remember, this aired just seven weeks after their deaths.

And here was Kerry on national television saying his cousin was essentially an asshole. But that's not all. The CBC did more than one interview with Carey, and in the next clip, they talked to him inside a busy Toronto coffee shop. And that's where he said this. Like I would talk about killing Barry,

and it was very graphic. Not only does he tell the CBC that he's fantasized about killing Barry, Carey also tells them exactly how he'd do it. The way I was going to do it wouldn't have been belts. It was going to be in the Apotex parking lot. That was my vision, always, that he'd come out of the building in Apotex

and I'd be hiding behind a car. And I just decapitated him. I wanted to roll his head down the parking lot and I'd just sit there waiting for the police. Naturally, Kerry was questioned by police. I mean, I had opportunity, I had motive. I can see why the police might say, this guy's also a fucking nut. Remember, the exact time of the Sherman's death is unknown.

But it's believed that it was sometime between the evening of Wednesday, December 13th and Thursday, December 14th. Their bodies were found on a Friday. Carey says he told the cops exactly where he was. No alibi. Wednesday night, I went to my Cocaine Anonymous meeting. I came home, as I usually do, watch some Netflix, eat some Doritos,

fall asleep. Thursday night, same thing, went to work. Very easily for me to have left work at any time because I'm not on the clock. I'm a site supervisor. I can get in my car. I can take a three-hour break during the day. I could easily have driven over to Colony and done the deed. I admit to that.

But I didn't. I didn't. And that's why I'm not nervous. And as I've told you, all these years later, the police have not arrested anyone. And Kerry told the CBC that the police have told him that he wasn't a suspect. Did you kill Honey and Barry Sherman? Absolutely not. I had nothing to do with it. Toronto police have asked him to come in for an interview. Winter says they told him he is not a suspect and that there is no evidence. He is.

The CBC interview didn't stop with Carey professing his innocence and saying that he had been cleared by police. his innocence and saying that he had been cleared by police. He also talked about the moment that he got the call to tell him that Barry and Honey Sherman's bodies had been found. And I just calmly said to him on the phone, I don't believe it. He finally did it. I said he killed her. And to this day, in this moment in front of you, I've never shed a tear about that and I've never questioned it. Kerry's talking about Barry here, implying that his cousin killed his wife and then killed himself. And that was the original police theory. But we know that didn't sit well with the Sherman family. And six weeks later, Toronto police changed their theory and started calling it a double killing. So why was Kerry so certain it was murder-suicide? Because he says that Barry had told him he wanted Honey dead years before.

Kerry claimed that Barry, back when they were still getting along, quietly asked him for a favor. He asked Kerry to find someone to kill Honey. He just wanted her gone. He wanted her gone. Kerry said that he even went so far as to hire someone to do the job. But then Barry backed out at the last minute.

I called him and said, you know, there's no turning back, Barry. If I push the button and he said, no, don't do it. And that's when I said, then don't bring it up again. And he never did. Kerry's claim, of course, was huge, but he had no way to back it up. Barry was dead. And if there was a hitman out there, he wasn't talking. So the Fifth Estate asked Kerry to sit for a lie detector test. And he failed it. The whole episode is really uncomfortable to watch. Kerry is clearly angry and distraught. And the audience is left unsure what to take away from any of his claims.

is left unsure what to take away from any of his claims. We wanted to ask him as well, but up to this point, he hasn't replied to our requests. This battle, it was between Carrie, his brothers, and their cousin Barry. But we've been told that when the Winters launched their lawsuit, Honey turned her back on them entirely. Carrie especially became persona non grata, and whatever affection or care she might have had for him, it was gone. It must have been hard for Carrie to lose the connection he had with Barry and Honey. He had lost his parents at such a young age, and the Shermans had stepped in, offering a semblance of family that he must have been missing.

Ehrmans had stepped in, offering a semblance of family that he must have been missing. She looked after my children like her own. That's Mary Sheckman, Honey's sister, talking at her funeral. Honey may have cut off ties with Barry's side of the family, but she remained very close with her sister's kids. If I wasn't there, one time I wasn't there, my kids got sick, she's the one that would go over. She'd get soup, she'd get things.

She would constantly call. She was the most loving, caring person. Honey didn't just support her sister's family emotionally. She supported them financially. But when Honey and Barry died, another family was about to be ripped apart over their money. We're just looking to get a copy of a court file that is active. Is this, do we have to fill anything out? Yes, what year is the file?

What year? It's 2021. Producer Michelle Shepherd and I are at a courthouse in Toronto where civil cases are filed. So we wrote the number, statement of claim defense in my email. That's all you need. Yes, yes. Then I can email them to you. Okay, thanks. Thank you. Thanks for your time. Appreciate it. Bye. As soon as we walk off the elevator and back on the street, an email from the clerk arrives.

I can't believe that they sent that to us so quickly. We're just out of the building. Yeah, that was very fast. Honestly, court records never come that quickly. We sit on the steps of a nearby building and open up the file. Two files, actually. A statement of claim and one of defense. It was filed in June 2021. And it's ugly. Involving Mary, her husband Alan, and their son Noah. Honey Sherman created the trust as a tax-effective means for Mary to accumulate wealth. In January 2000, Honey set up a fund for her sister's kids. They called it the Schechtman Children Family Trust.

Mary and Honey were incredibly close as sisters and best friends throughout Honey's life. Honey and Barry contributed funds to the trust. However, Mary and Alan were responsible for managing the trust and utilizing its assets to build wealth. The trust is made up of numerous properties in Toronto worth millions of dollars. Noah argues that his mother and father heard him when they transferred 15 of the properties to either themselves or their two other children. Noah seems to have gotten nothing. Honey intended that Mary could take advantage

of the capital, that Honey and Barry could contribute, grow the trust assets, and in turn benefit as Mary saw fit from the value so created. Honey intended that Mary and Alan would have the final and absolute say of how the wealth Mary accumulated was distributed. Mary, her husband Alan, and Noah's siblings countered that they hadn't breached any agreement. In other words, the defense argues

that Honey didn't specify how her sister could distribute the money. how her sister could distribute the money. The tensions between Noah and his mother are laid out in the court documents. In them, Noah states that his relationship with the trustees, particularly his mother Mary, has been fractious for many years, and that, quote,

Mary has displayed an open animus and hostility towards Noah. The Sheckman family uses the same words to describe Noah, that, quote, Noah has displayed an open animus and hostility towards Mary. So they're seeking $40 million. Wow. Breach of fiduciary duty and breach of trust. Once again, the Shermans's money is tearing families apart, just like it does in the TV show Succession.

That much money is not good for any family. Relationships between parents and their grown children are complicated enough. Add in millions and millions of dollars, and you can see how distrust and animosity can take over and tear any family apart. It certainly makes for good TV, but in real life, it's tragic. I wonder who the Shermans and their families would have been if Barry had not been so successful. if Barry had not been so successful. So much of this podcast has been about Barry.

But what about Honey? Honey seems to be a secondary character whenever this story is covered. But her effect on her family, her friends, the city and the country is huge. So that's where we're going next time on the no- good, terribly kind, wonderful lives and tragic deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman. There is a weird and awful irony that her violent death harkens back to the trauma that her

own family experienced. I mean, it's awful. I remember when I first heard the news, that's the first thing I think about is, that's not right. You know, there's something, it's just, the whole thing is just not right. This episode was written and produced by me, Kathleen Goldhar, Michelle Shepard, and Lisa Gabriel. It was executive produced by Charlie Webster,

along with Lisa Gabriel and myself. Andrea Varsany is our associate producer. Our technician is Laura Antonelli. Sound design and mixing by Reza Daya. The role of Barry Sherman is played by Saul Rubinick. Stuart Cox is the executive producer for Antica. Special thanks to Isabella Kempf. This is a Lionsgate Sound co-production with CBC Podcasts. Stuart Cox is the executive producer for Antica. Special thanks to Isabella Kempf.

This is a Lionsgate Sound co-production with CBC Podcasts. Lionsgate Sound, engineered by Pilgrim Media Group in collaboration with Antica Productions, exclusively for CBC. For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.