Latest news with #fraud
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Dozens more alleged victims come forward as Brampton man accused in real estate fraud faces new charges
A Brampton man accused of defrauding more than a dozen would-be homeowners is now facing additional criminal charges, while a civil lawyer says dozens more alleged victims have recently come forward claiming they were also defrauded. Moiz Kunwar, 28, is accused of taking deposits for pre-construction homes he was not authorized to sell, which were built by a legitimate developer he had no connection with. Last month, Kunwar was charged with fraud over $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime. That's on top of two counts of each charge already laid against him in February and March of this year, according to Brampton court records. The criminal charges against him have yet to be tested in court. Now, Peel Regional Police are warning the public about Kunwar. "Members of the public are urged to avoid any transactional interactions with Moiz Kunwar," spokesperson Const. Tyler Bell-Morena said. He says the fraud bureau is continuing to investigate new and existing allegations of fraud involving Kunwar "relating to instances where he reportedly misrepresented himself as being a member of a real estate development company." Bell-Morena says police believe there are other victims who have not yet come forward and are encouraging anyone with information to contact Peel police's fraud department or report details anonymously through Crime Stoppers. 40-50 more people believe they were scammed: lawyer Toronto lawyer Andrew Ballantyne is representing seven plaintiffs in a civil lawsuit against Kunwar. Since CBC Toronto's reporting on Kunwar's criminal charges in May, he says he's received phone calls from 40 to 50 people who believe they are also victims of the alleged real estate scam. Ballantyne says he's working with the majority of them to help get their deposits back. "A lot of these people are regular, everyday people … [who] have given their life savings and it's tragic to see," he said. Three civil lawsuits filed in Ontario Superior Court paint a similar picture and accuse Kunwar of collecting deposits for pre-construction homes across the Greater Toronto Area by using a corporate name nearly identical to that of a legitimate developer he was not associated with. The lawsuits claim he took deposits for homes that he had no right to sell, leaving the buyers without their new homes and out tens of thousands of dollars in deposit money. The plaintiffs in the three civil suits claim they gave Kunwar a total of nearly $570,000 in deposits and are suing him in hopes of getting that money back, plus damages. In an email to CBC Toronto, Kunwar said he intends to defend himself against all charges and allegations against him, but did not comment further because the matters are before the courts. Kunwar previously denied fraud allegations In a statement of defence in one of the civil claims against him, Kunwar denied all allegations of fraud and that he'd ever represented himself as a real estate investor, broker, developer or mortgage lender. Instead, he claimed he was "simply a sales associate" who received some payments on behalf of his superiors but did not deposit them for his own personal use. The court filing said Kunwar believed the transactions were lawful and legitimate. CBC Toronto first began investigating Kunwar in 2022 after a local realtor flagged a suspicious sales pitch that was circulating in Toronto's Black community for below-market rate pre-construction homes with low mortgage rates. As part of that investigation, CBC Toronto spoke to multiple people who claimed they paid Kunwar or his associates at the company Paradise Development Homes Limited (PDHL) deposits for homes. The 2022 investigation found the homes were being sold by a legitimate and licensed developer, Paradise Developments Inc., but despite the nearly identical name, the licensed developer had no ties to Kunwar or PDHL. In a statement at the time, Paradise Developments Inc. said Kunwar had no authority or legal right to sell any of the builder's properties. Kunwar told CBC Toronto he passed on information about the deals to people he knew but denied taking deposits. Kunwar continued to take deposits for pre-construction homes as recently as last spring, according to Ballantyne. He says because the real estate deal Kunwar was offering was so good, many were eager to tell their friends and family, who also signed up. "It just spread like wildfire," he said. Ballantyne says the would-be buyers were often taken out to the development site and shown the home they were going to be purchasing. "Eventually that unit gets built. Eventually [other] people move into that unit, the closing date comes and goes and people realize, 'Hey, what's going on here?'" He says when they reach out to Kunwar they are "smoothly talked off the ledge" in order to buy more time. "But, ultimately, there's only so much time they can buy," he said.
CTV News
3 hours ago
- CTV News
Scammers refuse to play ‘fare' in taxi scam
A taxi scam is on the rise again in Waterloo Region. CTV's Krista Simpson shares tips on how to spot it before another well-meaning person loses their money.
News.com.au
5 hours ago
- News.com.au
Former Transport for NSW employee accused of ‘staggering' corruption now on the run
A former Transport for NSW (TfNSW) employee who is accused of pocketing about $11.5 million from allegedly corrupt dealings with roadworks contractors is on the run. Ibrahim Helmy is at the centre of an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) inquiry that alleges a 'staggering' $343 million of taxpayer-funded contracts were awarded to businesses that he is suspected to have had corrupt relationships with. After he failed to attend an ICAC summons in May, NSW Police issued a warrant for Mr Helmy's arrest. A family member told the Commission he 'took the rubbish out on a Sunday night and did not return', and counsel assisting Rob Ranken, SC, told the inquiry, 'we believe he remains in the jurisdiction and that individuals have been collaborating to conceal his whereabouts.' His family has not reported him missing. It is alleged that between 2012 to 2024, Mr Helmy masterminded a web of corruption involving at least four other TfNSW employees that saw a number of businesses awarded lucrative contracts in return for kickbacks which came in the form of gold bullion nuggets, cryptocurrency, gift cards and other valuables. Invoices for the contracts, which were worth between $12 million to $99 million, were allegedly 'falsely inflated' and according to one of the business owners, the excess was split 50/50 between the business and Mr Helmy. Mr Ranken said there is evidence suggesting that on one occasion Mr Helmy helped a business prepare a tender submission and provided 'confidential documents prepared by other contractors to assist with the preparation' of their submission. It is also alleged that Mr Helmy stacked tender evaluation committees 'in a way that allowed him to manipulate the committee's recommendations'. The inquiry heard that one of the businesses involved, Protection Barriers, had received 'very little' work from TfNSW prior to mid 2020 when Mr Helmy is alleged to have begun a corrupt relationship with them. Protection Barriers founder Jason Chellew told the inquiry on Monday he was contacted by Mr Helmy and that he 'proposed, giving us jobs, for yeah, kickbacks.' 'The problem we had at that sort of time, we were worried that if we said 'no', we would have got nothing,' Mr Chellew said, referring to a fear that rejecting Mr Helmy's offer would result in the business being passed up by TfNSW for lucrative contracts in future. 'I didn't really want to do it but that was what we did at the time,' he said. Between 2020 and 2024, Protection Barriers was awarded approximately $99 million worth of contracts and it is alleged that Mr Helmy received about $9m in kickbacks from the business, most of which was paid in cryptocurrency. A police search of Mr Helmy's premises in September last year seized 12 bars of silver weighing 1kg each, three platinum bars weighing 1 ounce each, 20 gold bullion nuggets and five gold bullion bars each weighing 1 ounce, nine 100 gram gold bullion bars and $12,317 in cash. The Crime Commission also found the equivalent of about $8 million in cryptocurrency stored in the account of an associate of Mr Helmy, the inquiry heard. Mr Helmy and Mr Chellew have not been charged with any criminal offence. This is the fourth public inquiry into TfNSW since 2019 and in his opening statement, Mr Ranken said: 'In each of the previous investigations, (other) TfNSW officials were found to have manipulated procurements and/or contract management processes for corrupt benefit. We expect the evidence is likely to establish that also to be the case in this investigation.'
CBC
5 hours ago
- CBC
Two people behind bogus temp agencies that exploited asylum seekers sentenced to house arrest
Two people accused of running fraudulent temp agencies that exploited asylum seekers in Montreal have been sentenced to house arrest for 10 and 18 months. Beatriz Adriana Guerrero Munoz, 45, and Hector Lopez Ramos, 51, appeared at the Court of Quebec in Montreal on Monday morning to receive the sentences their lawyers had agreed on with the prosecution. The pair had pleaded guilty to reduced charges three days into their trial in April. Lopez Ramos and Guerrero Munoz were initially charged with with fraud of more than $5,000 against the Quebec and Canadian governments and conspiracy to commit fraud of more than $5,000. They — along with another man, Hector Hair Rodriguez Contreras, 56 — ran a scheme Quebec's Labour Ministry said was the "largest fraud ever committed" against it and for which it estimated government losses at about $635,000. Lopez Ramos and Guerrero Munoz's charges were lessened to summary charges of using forged documents, including tax statements, against the Quebec government. "This isn't the sentence I would have rendered, but since it's been agreed upon by two experienced lawyers, I'm going to accept it," Quebec Court judge Jean-Jacques Gagné said Monday. Prosecutor Genviève Bélanger said afterward that the sentences weren't as heavy as they would have been for the original charges. The sentences also took into account that the accused had saved the government time by cutting the trial short with their guilty pleas, preventing the prosecution from having to prove the exact monetary value of the fraud. "There was an enormous amount of evidence to be presented and analyzed that the court could have considered [in the trial]," because of how many companies, bank accounts and employees they oversaw, Bélanger said in an interview. The trio, led by Rodriguez Contreras, ran a number of temp agencies that hired asylum seekers without work permits and paid them below minimum wage in cash or cheques addressed to false identities they assigned to them. Quebec's Labour Ministry launched probes into the temp agencies following a 2018 CBC News investigation. The story revealed a Haitian asylum seeker was severely injured on the job after being recruited at a Montreal Metro station by the network of temp agencies. The man was given a former worker's name and social insurance number to work under the table at a meat processing plant outside the city. A meat slicer, which he had barely been shown how to use, cut the top of his hand, requiring an emergency skin graft. Lopez Ramos and Guerrero Munoz had pleaded not guilty, but changed their pleas shortly after the man's emotional testimony at trial, outlining how his life had been impacted by the accident — including the pain he still experiences today and the lack of employment opportunities available to him because of it. Lopez Ramos was sentenced to 18 months of house arrest, followed by two years of probation and 100 hours of community service. Investigators confiscated $5,500 and $7,000 US in cash they found in his belongings. Guerrero Munoz was sentenced to only 10 months house arrest due to her lesser role in managing the fraudulent agencies, Bélanger said. Investigators discovered $82,000 in cash and an additional $80,000 in two bank accounts — of which she is allowed to keep 45 per cent. "Part of their business was legitimate, so it's not necessarily all the money that was fraud money," the prosecutor said. Rodriguez Contreras, who pleaded guilty before trial, is to be sentenced in September. Bélanger said the prosecution was "satisfied" with the case ending in guilty pleas for all three accused. "It's a case that was significant in terms of fraud against the government but also [in the interest of] protecting workers, who, despite sometimes committing fraud themselves, remain vulnerable because they are newcomers and don't know much about their rights and even obligations," she said.
Fox News
6 hours ago
- Business
- Fox News
Victims of 'Bernie Madoff of cows' take on major banks in massive ghost cattle Ponzi scheme
Victims of a deceased financier known as the "Bernie Madoff of cows" are suing three banks, alleging they enabled the fraud that resulted in a $100 million Ponzi scheme. Some of those duped by Brian McClain, of Benton, Kentucky, filed a lawsuit against Community Financial Services Bank, Rabo AgriFinance and Mechanics Bank, alleging the institutions ignored red flags that left dozens of Kentucky investors with financial losses, the New York Post reported. The fraud was uncovered days after McClain killed himself at age 52 on April 18, 2023. He initially promised 30% returns to investors while orchestrating a "ghost cattle" scheme in which the livestock never actually existed, authorities said. "CFSB strongly denies the allegations in question, and believes the claims against the bank to be entirely without merit," the bank said in a statement to The Post. "The bank through counsel has filed a Motion to Dismiss in the suit brought by the bankruptcy trustee." A spokesperson for Rabo AgriFinance told Fox News Digital that the courts will have the ultimate say. "Rabo AgriFinance remains strongly committed to providing financial solutions to U.S. cattle producers, feedlots, and processors," a statement from the bank reads. "As stated in prior court filings, the claims have no basis under the law, and many of the allegations are completely inaccurate. As the legal process unfolds Rabo AgriFinance will refrain from commenting further." Fox News Digital has reached out to all three banks named in the lawsuit. McClain's scheme collapsed when Rabo AgriFinance, McClain's primary lender, discovered a massive discrepancy in inventory, the newspaper reported. During an audit, only 10,000 cattle were found, far less than the 88,000 McClain claimed to have. While McClain claimed to have 88,000 head of cattle, only about 10,000 were found during an audit, exposing the bulk of the herd as "ghost cattle." After McClain's death last year, representatives from Rabo AgriFinance seized the remaining cattle from McClain's operation and sold them through Blue Grass Stockyards. Three of McClain's companies — McClain Farms in Benton, Kentucky; 7M Cattle Feeders in Hereford, Texas; and McClain Feed Yard in Friona, Texas — filed for bankruptcy in 2023. The unpaid livestock sellers could be protected under the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921, which requires that all livestock purchased by a dealer in cash sales, along with any receivables or proceeds from those livestock, be held in trust for the benefit of unpaid sellers, according to the Department of Agriculture. McClain's moniker is named after Bernie Madoff, the former Nasdaq chairman who masterminded the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history by defrauding thousands of investors. Madoff died in 2021 at the age of 81 while serving a 150-year sentence at the federal medical care center in a North Carolina federal prison.
