existed despite having been interviewed for it. The ethics investigation included allegations of unwanted sexual advances, innuendo, and rude behaviour from eight women: four of Meredith's former staffers and four Senate employees. Meredith was expelled from the Conservative caucus on June 17, 2015, following allegations that he had groomed a teenager for two years, beginning when the girl was 16. In October 2015, the Office of the Senate Ethics Officer suspended its investigation pending the result of the concurrent police investigation that took over the file. Ultimately the teenager, known by the pseudonym, "Ms. M," declined to press criminal charges to protect her identity. After the police investigation was dropped the Senate ethics office investigation resumed in February 2016 and found him guilty of ethics violations in March 2017 after he conceded he had sexual intercourse with the woman after she turned 18. The woman said that Meredith "continually encouraged her to be in a relationship with him" and that he frequently masturbated on-camera during video chats while he was in his GTA Faith Alliance office. Meredith called the encouragement a gross lie and did not recall masturbating, but said that if he did "it was an interaction". Meredith was expelled from the Independent Senators Group he had joined the previous year. Meredith repeatedly apologizing for his "moral failing" and begging forgiveness but refused to step down, while taking sick leave on doctor's orders. He claimed to be a victim of racism in this affair, with his first lawyer Selwyn Pieters suggesting "his client was being portrayed as a "sexual predator" because he is an imposing black man". Meredith replaced Pieters with Bill Trudell as his new attorney, the latter who believed that the race card approach would not be helpful in Meredith's defense. Despite growing calls for Meredith's resignation from the Senate, Trudell argued "for a one- or two-year suspension without pay as a form of punishment for his two-year sexual relationship with a teenage girl". Meredith announced on May 9, 2017 that he would be resigning from the Senate. The announcement came shortly after the Senate Ethics Committee found that his conduct "demonstrated that he is unfit to serve as a senator" as "He has abused his privileged position of authority and trust by engaging in behaviour that is incompatible with his office", and "No lesser sanction than expulsion would repair the harm he has done to the