A pair of Toronto lawyers accused of embezzling nearly $7 million from real estate clients has been found in contempt of court for failing to hand over financial records and answer questions about where the money went.
Singa Bui and her husband Nicholas Cartel face penalties that could include fines or even imprisonment, and will likely also draw misconduct charges from Ontario’s professional regulatory body for lawyers, two experts in professional legal discipline said.
“Although they must know what happened to the funds, they have refused to provide this information,” Ontario Superior Court Justice William Chalmers ruled in late August.
“Instead of attempting to comply with the orders to the best of their ability, I find that the defendants have taken active steps to hide their finances and to frustrate the court’s efforts to determine what happened.”
Damn, can’t imagine sending over the funds for a house purchase and the lawyers taking it - who would be the ones on the hook there? Do the buyers still keep the house, or are the sellers still in ownership?
I don’t even know how they can make this right - hopefully its covered under malpractice insurance, but what a nightmare for their clients.
It’s terrible. I can’t imagine how I’d recover if my savings were appropriated by a thieving trusted party.