Smokey Robinson was investigated for sexual assault allegation in 2015 but no charges were filed
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National Post
42 minutes ago
- National Post
Young NHLer lives in basement of Rangers fans
A young New York Rangers forward has turned a minor hockey staple into NHL life. Article content Brett Berard, 22, lives in the off-season in the basement of a family of six. In junior hockey, players often billet with families, living with them during the season. This is a slightly different arrangement since Berard lives with them when he's not playing for the Rangers, but it's a similar idea. Article content Article content Berard told the Wall Street Journal about his unconventional setup in Darien, Conn. He explained it came about because his best friend Petey Alofsin was a fraternity brother of the eldest son of the Fiorita family. Berard had told Alofsin he wanted to train in the area and his friend said: ''No way, my best friend from school lives in Darien, you should talk to him,'' Berard told the news outlet. Article content Missy and Paul Fiorita told the WSJ they are huge Rangers fans, but didn't really believe Berard — who is not related to former Maple Leafs defenceman Bryan Berard — would really be up for the living situation, given he'd already played three years of college hockey and a couple in the minors. Article content 'In the back of my mind, I was like, 'This isn't gonna happen. A Ranger's not going to move into our house,'' Missy Fiorita said. Article content 'We were all on pins and needles, but as soon as he walked in the door, it was like, 'I'm not welcoming this kid into my home for X amount of time. I'm welcoming him to being part of our family,' she said. Article content Now they hang out together as a big family, including going on dog walks, playing basketball in the driveway, and watching movies and television. Article content Berard rents an apartment in Hartford, Conn., during the NHL season (because he's mostly played for the Hartford Wolfpack of the American Hockey League, so far).
Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
Ontario brokerage collapse raises questions about oversight
The collapse of the fourth-largest real estate brokerage in Ontario, with close to $8-million missing, is raising questions in the industry about whether its financial oversight regulations are adequate. According to Joseph Richer, the registrar of the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO), which acts as the licensing body and regulator in the province, his organization has known since May that iPro Realty Ltd. had mismanaged its legally protected trust accounts that held millions of dollars worth of consumer downpayments and realtor/agent commissions. It wasn't until months later, on Thursday, Aug. 14 that RECO disclosed that the brokerage, owned by Riu Alves and Fedele Colucci, with its 2,400 agents, was being shut down by Aug. 19. Mr. Alves and Mr. Colucci had their licences to trade real estate suspended as of that same date. 'They should have shut them down sooner. It's crazy they allowed this to happen; the public should have been aware,' said Domenic Manchisi, a realtor who left iPro to join a Re/Max West brokerage as soon as RECO went public with iPro's financial issues. He said he had to scramble to get his clients away from the damaged brokerage in the days following. He's also critical of RECO's role in facilitating a new brokerage called iCloud Realty Ltd. – created on Aug. 8 as part of an agreement between RECO and iPro – that automatically transferred to it any iPro agent who hadn't already left by Aug. 18. Ontario regulator shuts down iPro Realty after finding $10-million shortfall in trust accounts Ontario real estate agents report fewer large cash transactions to FinTRAC 'To me, it's like going from the Titanic to jumping to that submarine that blew up under the water. … It's crazy,' he said. To those outside iPro, the issues exposed by its collapse speak more to RECO's flaws than to those of an individual brokerage. 'This is the biggest trust account failure in the history of the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board,' said Steve Tabrizi, a broker/owner chief operating officer for the Re/Max Hallmark Group of Companies. He noted a key point of failure on trust accounts under the Trust in Real Estate Services Act and RECO regulations is that all brokerages only require a single signing authority – the broker of record usually – on the trust accounts. 'The industry needs a complete overhaul regarding multiple signatures for trust accounts. I can walk into the bank and empty the account,' he said. Others in the industry echoed the call for reform, not least because the insurance caps for misappropriated funds seem inadequate to the amount of money that large brokerages handle in a given month. 'I have always labelled the trust account as the 'Go To Jail' account because, honestly, that's what you're looking at,' said John Lusink, the former broker of record for Right at Home Realty, Ontario's largest single brokerage with more than 6,100 realtors. 'At the top of the market, when it was overheated, we had close to $100-million in the trust accounts.' Compared to that, RECO's combined insurance cap appears paltry; a single event is limited to $4-million in coverage for the consumer down payment and realtor commission claims. In an e-mailed response to questions from The Globe and Mail, Mr. Richer confirmed, that prior to May, iPro had not been subject of a financial inspection since 2021. According to iPro, the missing money – initially reported as $10-million but later revised to just under $8-million – had been used 'to repay investors in the brokerage owner's separate holding company and to cover operational costs.' RECO's slowness to act on or complete inspections had been noted as an area in need of reform by Ontario's Auditor-General back in a 2022 report on the arms-length agency (RECO is one of several delegated authority organizations the province has established over the decades, which are self-funded and provide a regulatory function for an industry). At the time, the AG found RECO had 'never performed a full on-site inspection at 27 per cent of registered brokerages' and hadn't inspected another 35 per cent of brokerages in more than five years. 'If you take a look at the regulatory standard, why would you do an inspection of an account only every two years; Why don't you ask for a monthly reconciliation?' said Mr. Tabrizi, who argues mandatory electronic reporting on trust accounts would be better than the current honour system. Today, RECO's rules make it an offence if brokerages don't self-report any shortfalls in their trust account reconciliations, but in the absence of mandatory filing requirements, Mr. Tabrizi argues it's unlikely anyone engaged in deliberate malfeasance would tell on themselves. The 2022 AG report also found that RECO didn't make an issue of 88 per cent of the 2,643 inspections where it found violations between 2017 and 2021. In only 12 per cent of cases were brokerages referred to RECO's investigations department or had follow-up inspections. According to Mr. Richer's statement, RECO changed its inspection regime following the AG report: 'In 2023 RECO launched a new, robust, risk-based inspection program that incorporates both risk-based and routine inspection cadence. Brokerages presenting a higher risk of consumer harm are inspected more frequently and to a higher degree than brokerages that consistently demonstrate higher levels of compliance.' According to Mr. Richer, there were 1,065 inspections in 2024, and with 774 completed in 2025 it's on pace to complete 1,250 this year. RECO's latest annual report says in 2024, there were 40 claims against commission insurance (in the event of misappropriation of funds or insolvency of a brokerage), up from 26 claims in 2023. According to RECO, it's too soon to assess how many claims could be made related to iPro, but Mr. Tabrizi noted that just at his brokerage there are about 10 agents owed $100,000 by iPro. 'The vast majority of registrants with RECO comply with the law,' said Mr. Richer. 'However, this situation will be thoroughly assessed to ensure we incorporate learnings into our future compliance and enforcement initiatives.' 'Since the initial inspection of iPro in May, 2025, RECO has closely monitored its trust account activity,' said Mr. Richer, adding that RECO's focus has been to 'recover the greatest amount of trust money possible.' As part of that effort, Mr. Richer said RECO is finalizing its own engagement with an independent firm to ensure 'the highest level of oversight through the windup process.'
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Aubrey Plaza is ‘functioning,' but it's a ‘daily struggle' after her husband's death
Jeff Baena and Aubrey Plaza are pictured in 2016. Aubrey Plaza is opening up about her life after the death of her husband, Jeff Baena. (David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images via CNN Newsource) Aubrey Plaza is opening up about her life after the death of her husband, Jeff Baena. The 'White Lotus' star is a guest on the latest episode of her friend and former 'Parks and Recreation' co-star Amy Poehler's podcast, 'Good Hang.' Baena, a writer and director, died by suicide in January. He was 47. 'On behalf of all the people who feel like they know you, and the people who do know you, how are you feeling today?' Poehler asked Plaza. 'In this very, very present moment, I feel happy to be with you,' Plaza responded. 'I'm here and I'm functioning,' she continued. 'I feel really grateful to be moving through the world. I think I'm okay, but it's like a daily struggle, obviously.' Baena was well known in Hollywood for several projects, including co-writing the 2004 film, 'I Heart Huckabees.' He and Plaza worked together on the 2014 horror-comedy, 'Life After Beth,' the 2021 comedy series, 'Cinema Toast,' and the 2022 film, 'Spin Me Round.' On the podcast, Plaza compared her grief to the recent film 'The Gorge,' which stars Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy, among others. 'It's like [an] alien movie or something with Miles Teller,' Plaza said. 'In the movie, there's like a cliff on one side and there's a cliff on the other side, then there's gorge in between and it's filled with all these like monster people that are trying to get them.' 'I swear when I watched it, I was like that feels like what my grief is like,' she added. Her grief, Plaza explained, feels like 'a giant ocean of awfulness, that's like right there and I can see it.' 'Sometimes I just want to dive into it and just like be in it,' she said. 'Then sometimes I just look at it, and sometimes I try to get away from it. But, it's always there.' Plaza and Baena began dating in 2011 and she revealed in 2021 on social media that they had married. By Lisa Respers France, CNN If you or someone you know is in crisis or struggling with mental illness, here are some resources that are available. Canada Suicide Crisis Helpline (Call or text 988) Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (1-800-463-2338) Crisis Services Canada (1-833-456-4566 or text 45645) Kids Help Phone (1-800-668-6868) If you need immediate assistance call 911 or go to the nearest hospital.
