Police in the Greater Toronto Area are investigating an investment company called 1PLUS12 over allegations of fraud following a report by Global News.
Peel police confirmed it’s received a complaint alleging fraud against the investment company which claims to use “local and international real estate” to help its clients become wealthy.
“On its face, this [fraud allegation] appears to be more elaborate,” said Det. Const. Beverley Pepper. “We’ve determined that it has met our threshold and will be investigated.”
1PLUS12 is currently facing two lawsuits totalling $6.4 million that allege fraud or misrepresentation and is linked to an alleged $17-million mortgage fraud involving high-end real estate across Toronto.
WATCH: Toronto-based investment company under legal fire. Sean O’Shea reports.
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One of their consultants Sai Mohammed, who recently changed his name, is also behind the B.C. company, Dexior Financial, that lost investors and creditors almost $19 million, according to claims in B.C. Supreme Court documents.
Roman Turlo, a former client now suing for almost $2 million, alleges 1PLUS12 “fraudulently misrepresented” real-estate opportunities and said he was glad that police have begun looking into the company.
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“It’s about time,” Turlo told Global News. “I don’t know how many other innocent people are impacted by 1PLUS12. I hope the police investigation uncovers the scope of how big this is.”
READ MORE: Ontario watchdog failed to check on risky mortgage brokers because of budget woes
According to his claim, Turlo was part of an investing group that spent just over $5.6 million on 11 Ontario properties and one in Belize that were pitched as “high opportunity investment with low risk.”
He later discovered there was “no record” the group had actually invested in any of the properties, according to his lawsuit, and that “part or all of the money” was given to a man identified as Arash Missaghi. Police allege Missaghi was involved in a series of fraudulent transactions that netted around $17 million in a scheme that dated back to before 2013.
Mitchell Wine, a lawyer representing Turlo, said there is “zero evidence” that the group of investors actually owned anything.
“They were told that the investments were going into equity and or mortgages,” Wine said. “When I’ve looked at the abstracts of title, which are the proof of who owns what, we don’t see that money was invested. So something fishy is going on.”
WATCH: Lawyer says there is no evidence that investors’ money was invested
1PLUS12 CEO Glenn Estrabillo said in a statement that his company “stands by its ethical conduct in all of its affairs.”
“We take any concerns raised about 1PLUS12 seriously and are happy to co-operate with Peele police should a formal investigation follow,” Estrabillo told Global News. “We stand by our investment strategy and current investment portfolio. Our existing investment partners remain confident in 1PLUS12’s investments and its leadership team.”
Global News called and emailed the company Mon8ta, which is representing other investors, for comment but did not receive a response regarding the police investigation.
“Mon8ta believes the robust legal response undertaken by 1PLUS12 is the best course of action and we look forward to our continued investment partnership with 1PLUS12,” CEO Michelle Desplaut said in a previous statement.
“Mon8ta has done its own investigation into the claims and is satisfied that the substance of the allegations are false and without foundation.”
1PLUS12 is not regulated by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) or Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO), a watchdog for the mortgage industry. 1PLUS12 has several upcoming investment workshops advertised in April and May.
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