58 pairs of Manolo Blahniks among hundreds of items seized at lawyer couple's home amid fraud probe

A Toronto lawyer couple who lived a life of multimillion-dollar homes and high fashion are under investigation for fraud, possession of the proceeds of crime and laundering the proceeds of crime, after more than $7 million of their clients' money was stolen and funnelled into many of those luxury purchases.

In the first public sign that police are taking concrete steps to investigate lawyers Singa Bui and Nicholas Cartel, officers executed a search warrant at the couple's midtown home in December and carted away hundreds of designer goods in a cube truck.

A list of items police seized, filed in court earlier this year and obtained by CBC News, includes 58 pairs of Manolo Blahnik shoes, 52 clothing items from designer label Alexander McQueen, 16 pairs of Christian Louboutin footwear, ties and other accessories from Hermes, and more than 20 accessories and pairs of shoes from Chanel. 

CBC's own research suggests the 1,153 items on the list could range in value from $150 for sandals to potentially more than $10,000 for an Oscar de la Renta jumpsuit, and may altogether be worth more than a million dollars.

Bui, a real estate lawyer and managing partner at Cartel & Bui LLP, has already admitted in a civil court affidavit that she started pilfering client money from the firm's trust account as far back as 2014. 

She said she initially took smaller amounts "to make ends meet" but eventually embezzled tens of thousands of dollars at a time to fund "luxurious vacations," fine dining, private-school tuition for their children and "elegant furnishings and expensive art." 

She said in the sworn statement she had a shopping compulsion "as a coping mechanism for other stressors in my life including my family and my practice."

Because her statement was compelled by a judge's order, it can't be used against her to support a criminal prosecution.

Cartel, who focused on class actions and litigation, strongly denies having any hand in the misappropriation of client funds, and has repeatedly blamed his wife, who he says managed both their firm's and their household's finances.

"There's no chance, absolutely no chance, that I'm implicated in this," Cartel told CBC News this week. He said police have not questioned nor even contacted him. 

In its application to get the search warrant for the couple's home, Toronto police's fraud squad said it needed to seize the luxury items because credit card and bank records allegedly showed they were paid for with funds stolen from the law firm's clients — and thus the items could be evidence of laundering and possession of proceeds obtained by crime.

"Preliminary financial records for Nicholas Cartel, Singa Bui and Cartel & Bui LLP…. indicate that Singa Bui and/or Nicholas Cartel had been living well beyond their means — including expenses well beyond what could be supported by their lawful income — and had resorted to embezzling funds from the firm's trust account to support their spending," says the police document filed in court.

"When questioned or confronted about the firm's apparent failure to disburse funds appropriately, Singa Bui and/or Nicholas Cartel repeatedly and willfully misled their clients (and other persons) as to what had really occurred to their funds."

Anthony Ingarra, who along with family and friends lost $410,000 when Cartel & Bui LLP failed to transfer them the proceeds from some private mortgage loans they had made, told CBC the value of the luxury goods seized by police is "just a splash in the pan for what's actually owing to the victims."