'Twainiac' doctor was living the dream
SAM PAZZANO and TONY SPEARS, QMI Agency
SAM PAZZANO and TONY SPEARS, QMI Agency
But that dream has been transformed into a legal and financial nightmare.
The 51-year-old Ottawa doctor now faces a bleak future.
Palumbo's medical licence is in jeopardy with him facing a fitness to practise medicine hearing at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at a date still to be set.
His medical licence was suspended in August 2009 but reinstated last July.
Once he earned up to $250,000 a year, according to documents that were filed in his acrimonious divorce in Ottawa.
His driveway was lined with four cars, including a 1987 Lamborghini Countach worth $80,000, a truck, a 1986 Checkmate boat, two snowmobiles and two trail bikes.
Palumbo paid for them all in cash, the court files indicate.
He remains in custody awaiting trial for allegedly breaching release conditions that he stay away from country superstar Shania Twain.
During the divorce, Palumbo's ex-wife accused him of running up debts "recklessly" to lessen her share of their assets.
Palumbo fired back that his legal woes and his support of his wife and four children caused his considerable debt.
"All the property I own may barely cover the debt, but never all the grief my wife and her children have put me through," Palumbo said of the 16-year relationship
The superior court ordered him to pay $3,944 a month in child support and $2,896 in spousal support in August 2008, but as of last December he was $134,000 in arrears, according to court documents filed in the ongoing divorce dispute.
After an eight-month whirlwind romance, Palumbo, 32, wed Christel Strippoli, then 20, on Sept. 26, 1992.
Christel, who had completed one year of nursing and one year of university, was a diligent homemaker and never worked outside their $450,000 Ottawa home.
When the troubled marriage deteriorated in May 2008, Palumbo had a huge debt of income taxes, according to the family court documents.
When Revenue Canada caught up with Palumbo in September 2007, he had to pay $500,000 in back taxes.
In a July 2008 affidavit filed over child and spousal support, Palumbo stated: "This year I have paid to the federal government approx. $500,000 in tax arrears (with approximately $500,000 still owing.)"