A real-estate fraud of at least 5 M$ was uncovered by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) with the arrest of Robert Moniz, 37 years old, in
Mr. Moniz will have to face 53 counts of criminal indictment for fraud, manufacture of false documents and use of counterfeited documents between March 1, 2007 and July 12, 2008.
The alleged stratagem was to ask inhabitants of
“The defendant recruited the victims in exchange of a few thousands of dollars,” indicates corporal Luc Thibault, public-relations officer of the RCMP in
After having taken hold of the property, he promised to keep it for a few months without his “customers” making payments on the mortgage. Mr. Moniz promised to share the eventual profits at the time of the resale.
The alleged victims did not know immediately that they were caught in a stratagem because the payments were carried out for some time, specifies the public-relations officer.
“When the victims were advised by the financial institutions that it was necessary to refund a due mortgage payment”, says Mr. Thibault, “they became responsible for their mortgage, the majority having a resale value which was lower than the amount of the mortgage.”
The majority would have gone bankrupt and their credit rating would suffer from it.
“We received several complaints but we inquired thoroughly into 19 transactions,” adds corporal Thibault. “They all proved to be fraudulent and one speaks of more than 5 M$ of losses for the victims. At this very moment that we are talking, the investigation is still on hand. ”
The RCMP wanted to act quickly in case Robert Moniz would still be active. “We wanted to stop the haemorrhage by doing an investigation and by obtaining concrete evidence for the prosecutors”, Luc Thibault confirms.
Financial institutions and the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) would also be touched by Robert Moniz’s scheme. Respectively, they lend and provide insurance services.
Corporal Thibault stresses that one should do what is needed to prevent a fraud of this kind. “Our message is that, yes, it is legal to lend one’s name but it is necessary to know to whom one lends it, which can happen and that one becomes responsible for the contract.”