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.
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Email evidence showed Firmaniuk forwarded an outdated Polydoctor subsidiary certificate to Sobolewski at 10:20 p.m. on March 18, hours after Sobolewski had already manipulated a vendor's legitimate API certificate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...
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