Oil and gas exec forged document to support $1.7-million bid
An oil and gas executive who forged a certification document to save his struggling company has learned that good intentions cannot rescue dishonest conduct.
Justice Lisa A. Silver of the Court of King's Bench of Alberta ruled Jan. 6, 2026 that Advanced Completions Technology Services Ltd. (ACTS) had just cause to fire John Sobolewski, even though the employer discovered his misconduct after he was terminated.
Sobolewski, president and co-founder of the boutique firm, fabricated an American Petroleum Institute certificate to support a $1.7-million bid to Kerui, the largest contract ACTS had ever pursued. He claimed his fellow directors participated in creating the fake document. Computer timestamps and email records proved he acted alone while away on a field job in Estevan.
Testimony ‘evolved and changed’
Sobolewski testified he created the false certificate on March 16 or 17 at the ACTS office with co-founders Darryl Firmaniuk and Jason Wang watching. His computer files told a different story. The falsified certificate was created March 18 at 4:44 p.m. and modified at 4:58 p.m., when mileage records confirmed he was alone in Estevan.
Email evidence showed Firmaniuk forwarded an outdated Polydoctor subsidiary certificate to Sobolewski at 10:20 p.m. on March 18, hours after Sobolewski had already manipulated a vendor's legitimate API certificate into a convincing forgery. No evidence supported Sobolewski's claim that Jason Wang also sent him the certificate or that either director knew what he planned to do with it.
Justice Silver found Sobolewski's story "evolved and changed during his testimony" to align with the documentary trail: "I find that the only reasonable inference to draw from the totality of the evidence is that John, on his own, created and manipulated the vendor API certificate into a valid but falsified Xi'an API certificate on March 18th when he was alone in Estevan.”
Exec’s act of dishonesty destroys trust
Sobolewski argued his seven-year track record, willingness to take pay cuts during COVID-19, and lack of prior misconduct should have saved his job. The court acknowledged that dismissal carries enormous consequences but found the fabrication too serious to overlook in a three-person leadership team where trust was essential.
The certificate was not a hasty mistake but required multiple deliberate steps to alter detailed technical information and create a document realistic enough to deceive both the client and ACTS's own board of directors, including Chinese investors who had put $5 million into the company. As president, Sobolewski was the outward face of the business and held himself out to Kerui as solely responsible for the bid.
"Even if John falsified the document for the company and not for his own benefit (although as shareholder he had an obvious interest in the health of the company), money overcame ethics," Justice Silver wrote.
The court rejected alternatives like warnings or ethics training, finding they could not repair the irreparable breakdown in a closely held corporation where the principals needed to rely on each other without hesitation.
Fine print on bonuses and expenses
Sobolewski's claims for field bonuses and mileage reimbursement also failed. The field bonus policy required that "all job-related documentation, reporting and administration (tracking, other paperwork) is properly completed by the worker" and that payment be contingent on customer agreement. He provided no proof the customer had agreed or that he had submitted the required service tickets.
The policy also gave ACTS "sole" discretion over eligibility. The court found it reasonable for the company to deny a field bonus to its own president when executives had voluntarily reduced salaries to weather financial difficulties and the bonus program was designed for field staff, not senior management.
The mileage policy stated "all personal mileage reporting for the previous year must be completed by the first week of January in the subsequent year." Sobolewski had not claimed mileage since 2019, then filed claims six days after his termination despite previously telling colleagues he was "doing the company a favour" by not claiming during the downturn.
Justice Silver found he had waived the right to reimbursement and concluded, "I therefore dismiss the mileage claim because there is no basis for it."
See Sobolewski v Advanced Completions Technology Services Ltd, 2026 ABKB 10
