A Toronto freelance journalist was found guilty Monday of violating the Canada Elections Act by voting — or at least obtaining ballots — at three polling places in the June 2004 federal election.

"If you have a favourite candidate who lost in this year's election, please pay special attention to the following," James DiFiore wrote in NOW Magazine, a Toronto alternative weekly.

"This is a step-by-step account of how our flawed system could have been exploited to commit fraud in the election."

In court more than 3½ years later, he was fined $250 — the amount, incidentally, he was paid for the article.

DiFiore said it was worth it because the law has since been amended. Voters now must show photo identification or be vouched for by another person.

"You know, a journalist can only expect or hope for change when they write a story —that something happens, that the story means something," he said outside the courthouse.

"So I'm happy that the story created, you know, some sort of change, albeit a slight one. It's just a little amendment to our federal elections act, but it's something."

Got three ballots but voted just once, he says

In his NOW article, he said he cast just one vote. He said he returned the second and third ballots to poll workers, telling them he had changed his mind.

Federal officials appear to have been unaware of his stunt until he wrote a letter to the editor of the Toronto Star in 2005.

"I decided to test the system by merely showing up at three different polling stations and demanding to exercise my democratic right to vote in the election," he wrote.

"All I had to do was stand my ground and tell the Elections Canada workers that I wanted to vote.

"So I voted — three times."

He was later quoted as saying the last sentence was accurate because the ballots he returned would have been counted as spoiled or rejected. He continued to deny casting more than one ballot.

Fugitive Nathan Jacobson, whose ties to the federal Conservatives made him the subject of recent question period queries from opposition benches, was arrested at his home in Toronto Thursday afternoon.

The Winnipeg-born businessman had his bail denied in Toronto court Friday and remains in the Toronto West Detention Centre awaiting another appearance Oct. 31.

U.S. Justice authorities in San Diego had told CBC they were upset that no Canadian law enforcement agencies had responded to their July 30 warrant for his arrest when Jacobson failed to attend court after pleading guilty to money laundering.

With others, Jacobson had set up an online pharmacy known as Affpower, based in Costa Rica, that sold drugs to Americans without prescriptions from 2004 to 2006. The 57-year-old was originally charged with several counts of fraud, money laundering and the distribution and dispensing of controlled substances, but he co-operated with authorities and pleaded guilty in 2008 to laundering $46 million in drug payments.

He was expected to serve a four-year sentence, but failed to show up at pre-sentencing.

An international red notice — a warrant issued for a flight risk — was certified this week by a Canadian judge for the sometime philanthropist who made millions selling GM products and setting up gas stations in post-Soviet Russia.

U.S. District Attorney Philip Halpern of San Diego would not comment on the arrest because the matter is before "judicial processes."

Claimed he was friends with Baird, Kenney

Calls by CBC on Friday to his three lawyers, his wife and business partner were not returned.

In recent years, Jacobson had spent much time in the corridors of power, both in Israel and Canada, and in March a smiling Jacobson was photographed between both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu at a reception in Ottawa. Jacobson claimed to have worked on the 2008 campaign for the Tories and was also considered a friend of cabinet ministers Jason Kenney and John Baird.

But when challenged earlier this year on their relationship to Jacobson, both ministers said they were oblivious to Jacobson’s legal problems.

Jacobson himself had initiated a lawsuit against Conservative MP Mark Adler last fall for what he claims was a $265,000 loan. Adler, in court documents, denies that amount changed hands, and said what was given to him was a gift from Jacobson to expand his Economic Club of Canada to the United States.

Besides donating more than $10,000 to the Conservative Party in recent years, Jacobson was prominent in his philanthropy within the Jewish community.

If you have tips on this story, contact john.nicol@cbc.ca.

In an exclusive interview with CBC News Networks'Power & Politics, Nathan Jacobson, the Canadian businessman who pleaded guilty to money laundering in a U.S. court four years ago, says he is protecting friends in the Canadian government because he is "radioactive."

When Jacobson failed to show up for a sentencing hearing in the U.S. this summer, U.S. justice authorities issued a warrant for his arrest on July 30. Almost three months later, Toronto police arrested him last week.

Jacobson had set up an internet pharmacy called Affpower, based in Costa Rica, that sold controlled drugs online for customers without a prescription, and used his own credit-card payment company to receive the fees. His guilty plea was for laundering $46 million in payments.

Jacobson was released on bail Wednesday from the Toronto Detention Centre, where he had been held since last Thursday.

In question period Thursday, Liberal MP Judy Foote asked if the government had taken any action to find and apprehend Jacobson before his arrest.

Parliamentary secretary for justice Robert Goguen replied, "This was a matter that was acted on immediately upon the request. The Americans requested that he be arrested on Oct. 24 and the very next day, Oct. 25, he was arrested. This case is now before the courts. It would be inappropriate to interfere."

'Friends' in high places

Just hours before he was arrested last week, Jacobson told CBC News that he is now protecting what he calls his friends in government. "I myself made the decision that it's best to keep a distance, in order to protect my friends. I would for the most part consider them still my friends. But while I'm — for the lack of a better term — radioactive, better let them to continue to run government."

Jacobson hosted a number of Canadian-Israeli receptions on Parliament Hill, and said that people from the Prime Minister's Office attended, as well as Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. He said the prime minister was not present at what he described as bipartisan events to celebrate the relationship between Canada and Israel.

A photograph has circulated in the media of Jacobson standing between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Harper. PMO spokesman Andrew MacDougall said the photo was taken at a reception on Parliament Hill attended by several hundred people, many of whom posed for photos with the two leaders.

Jacobson also said that he had introduced Kenney to top-level politicians in Israel. "Jason and I have spent a little time in Israel on several occasions when he's been there. And I've hosted dinners in Israel with senior government people. I, in fact, took Jason to meet Netanyahu his first time, meeting Netanyahu and other people within the security and political environment within Israel."

Another reason Jacobson calls himself radioactive is that he is suing Conservative MP Mark Adler, the Toronto politician who defeated Ken Dryden last election. 

Jacobson met Adler in the latter's role as the owner of the Economic Club of Canada, an organization that stages non-partisan events with top-drawer speakers. Jacobson said that at first he helped Adler procure some prominent Israeli speakers for the club, and that he'd loaned Adler money for the expansion of the club into the U.S. and perhaps Israel.

The amount was $140,000 Jacobson said, though he acknowledges there was no written contract about the money.

"There are records of the money going to him, and it's written up in our books, and it's still being shown as losses in our books. You know, there is accounting of it. You know, it's not meeting at midnight with black bags with $140,000 and, you know, handing off code words 'abula, bula,' and he responds 'the sky is blue,' and I hand him over a satchel. It wasn't. And in fact two of the payments were by cheque to the Economic Club."

Adler says the money was meant to be a gift.

"It’s nice that he considers it a gift," Jacobson responded. "I’d like him to show me other people that give him gifts like that. And I’d like other people to come forward and state that I gave them gifts of $140,000. Go ask my sister. I love my sister.… I don’t give gifts like that. I’m a generous person, but nobody gives gifts like that. So it’s unfathomable that he could. I was so insulted when he came out with that response. I went to him: Mark, I loaned you the money. When are you going to start repaying it?"

Jacobson was released on a security of $600,000 which he paid himself, and he has surrendered both his Israeli and Canadian passports.

Nathan Jacobson, a prominent businessman and former Conservative Party fundraiser with deep ties to Toronto and Winnipeg, says he's returning to Canada after a U.S. court cleared dozens of charges against him on Monday.

The Winnipeg-born businessman was extradited to the United States last year, several years after he was indicted for his alleged role in an online pharmacy.

• Fugitive businessman with Tory ties arrested in Toronto
• Arrested businessman says he's 'radioactive' to Tory friends
• Canadian businessman gets bail in U.S. money-laundering case

On the advice of his lawyers at the time, Jacobson pleaded guilty to a single count of money laundering. However, he has always maintained that he never did anything wrong.

On Monday, a U.S. District judge in San Diego, Calif., granted Jacobson's motion to withdraw his guilty plea, then dismissed all charges against him, according to a news release from his current legal team at Cooley LLP.

"It's a little numb. You know, it's been a long battle," Jacobson told CBC News following the ruling.

"I feel great. I feel … after a long time, after much more than a year, the truth is finally out."

Jacobson spent months in a U.S. jail. After he was granted bail, he had to remain in the San Diego area and submit to electronic monitoring.

"My goal is to return to my family, to my community, to my business, and to my involvement, and those that know me and believe in me will accept me," he said.

Jacobson said while he calls Toronto home, he cannot wait to see friends in Winnipeg as well.