Brampton man facing fraud charge, 2 lawsuits as alleged real estate deposit scam collapses
CBC
A Brampton man has been charged with fraud and is facing two lawsuits related to an alleged pre-construction home deposit scam worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Moiz Kunwar, 28, allegedly took real estate deposits from at least nine homebuyers in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) for pre-construction houses he didn't have the right to sell and which were being built by unrelated, legitimate developers.
Janet Campbell is one of them. The Brampton grandmother and six others are collectively suing Kunwar to get back nearly $170,000 they paid him for deposits on pre-construction homes they purchased but never received.
"This hurt me a lot because I believed him, and I trusted him to have a home, and it didn't happen," said Campbell. "He took me to this site to see the home, but it wasn't my home."
After many delays, Campbell says Kunwar assured her the nearly $1-million five-bedroom Brampton home she'd signed a purchase agreement for in July 2022 would be ready by Jan. 1 of this year, so she told her landlord she'd be moving out. But then her dream home never materialized.
"When I looked at my children, and my grandchildren, and they looked at me and they said, 'Mom, where are we going to go? What are we going to do?' What do I tell them?"
Campbell spent her remaining savings on Airbnbs for herself and her family. She recently secured a rental by taking out loans for first and last month's rent.
Peel Regional Police charged Kunwar with fraud over $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime for an alleged fraud linked to real estate in March. The victim who was allegedly defrauded confirmed to CBC that her case involves deposits she paid Kunwar for two pre-construction homes she never received. She is not part of either lawsuit.
The charges against Kunwar have not yet been tested in court.
Kunwar did not respond to CBC requests for comment for this story, but his lawyer filed a statement of defence in response to Campbell's lawsuit on Friday.
In the court filing, Kunwar denied all allegations of fraud and that he'd ever represented himself as a real estate investor, broker, developer or mortgage lender. Instead, the record says Kunwar was "simply a sales associate" who received some payments on behalf of his superiors and did not deposit them for his own personal use.
The statement of defence does not explain who those superiors are, or what, if any, company they're associated with.
But it does say that Kunwar believed the transactions were lawful and legitimate and that the time frames he provided for the property developments were based on information he was given by his superiors.
The defence also says Kunwar arranged for Campbell and two of the other plaintiffs to get some of their money back.
Four more Alberta MLAs are facing recall petitions organized by their constituents, including the first NDP representative to be caught in the province's ongoing wave of recall efforts.
Frank Gehry, the Canadian-born renegade architect behind some of the world's most recognizable buildings, has died at 96.
Hundreds of P.E.I. parents can't find child-care spaces, especially for infants. The provincial government says expanding those spots remains a top priority — and it recognizes the concern.
An Alberta judge says a referendum proposal on Alberta separating from Canada goes against Charter and and Treaty rights, in a decision given less than 24 hours after the provincial government introduced legislation that would have ended the court proceeding.
The architect of Alberta's politician recall legislation says it was never meant to be used as a political weapon, but as an "ultimate tool of accountability" if a politician engages in illegal or unethical behaviour.
The Government of Saskatchewan has introduced its long-promised involuntary treatment legislation on the final day of the fall sitting.
The Law Society of Ontario has suspended the licence of Deepak Paradkar, one of seven Canadians arrested in connection with alleged drug lord Ryan Wedding’s cocaine smuggling ring.
London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) is getting rid of unlimited mental health benefits for staff, blaming ballooning costs and former administrators for implementing it without proper due diligence or oversight.
Netflix has agreed to buy Warner Bros. Discovery's TV and film studios and streaming division for $72 billion US, a deal that would hand control of one of Hollywood's most prized and oldest assets to the streaming pioneer that has upended the media industry.
CBC Calgary kicks off its annual Make the Season Kind campaign this morning at Fratello Coffee Roasters.
CBC Newfoundland and Labrador is kicking off its annual holiday campaign, helping to raise money to support local food banks.
If all goes according to plan, at 6 a.m. AT on Saturday people working at the IWK Health Centre will become the test case for a generational change to Nova Scotia’s health-care system.
One month after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced what he called "generational" military spending, New Brunswick’s defence ecosystem is on high alert.