Law Times

Page 4 September 28, 2015 • Law timeS www.lawtimesnews.com accept Remy Boghossian's evi- dence that he was a dupe ma- nipulated by Ebrekdjian and others," wrote O'Marra in R. v. Boghossian on Sept. 8. "I am satisfied beyond a rea- sonable doubt that Remy Bog- hossian was a knowing partici- pant in the presentation of the fraudulent bank draft to the Royal Bank of Canada on Feb- ruary 10, 2011 and subsequently possessed gold knowing it had been obtained by a criminal of- fence." In a case that had an un- known bank insider helping out, a fake client allegedly cre- ated in part by Boghossian, and each of the accused blaming each other, O'Marra said the evi- dence pointed to Ebrekdjian as the "central coordinator in the scheme." O'Marra found that in early to mid-February 2011, Sutha- karan and Boghossian acquired a forged TD Canada Trust bank draft through an unknown insider at a Mississauga, Ont., branch for $1,895,751 with the funds deposited into Boghos- sian's trust account at the Royal Bank of Canada on Don Mills Road in North York. Boghos- sian then directed those funds to make two separate transactions, one day apart, for the equivalent amount of Australian-minted gold bullion from Montreal's Kitco Metals Co. He made those purchases on behalf of a client named Omar Ali, a man the court determined Boghossian and Ebrekdjian had created in order to further the fraud. Lafontaine argued it was Ali — or Ebrekdjian who created Ali alone — who was the main perpetrator, secured the fake TD bank note, and duped Boghos- sian into making the purchases. Boghossian told the court Ali was a real estate developer and investor going through a divorce and a pending property transac- tion and wanted the lawyer to invest the almost $2 million in gold so the client could keep it hidden from his wife. "Mr. Boghossian believed Mr. Ali was a real person and a bona fide client," said Lafontaine in his closing arguments, which Apel said he would expand on for the appeal. "While other participants, some of whom have never been named or found, hid behind phones and used other people as tools, only Mr. Boghossian used his own bank account, informa- tion, and name." Police found photocopies of fake identification for Ali, and while Ebrekdjian, a currency and precious metals dealer, pur- chased two phones under Ali's name, the court determined "no such person existed" and all of the lawyer's files on Ali as a client "were forgeries." The Crown ar- gued it was Suthakaran, a former Toronto-area mortgage broker, who was the "handler" for the TD insider, organized the fake bank draft for Boghossian, and participated in the sale of at least some of the gold before the bank noticed the fraudulent transac- tion on Feb. 11, 2011. Suthakaran and Ebrekdjian both attempted to sell some of the gold after Feb. 11 of that year through a third party to local gold dealers who recognized the distinct kangaroo markings of the Perth-made bars and con- tacted police. "In my view, there is a strong circumstantial case as outlined above from which reasonable inferences can be drawn that all three of the accused acted together to knowingly defraud the RBC by the presentation of a fraudulent TD bank draft," wrote O'Marra, adding phone records at the time of the crime indicated Ebrekdjian's level of involvement. "While another person made use of the ABC/Ali phone when Ebrekdjian was in Montreal, the brief overlapping calls to Boghossian and Sutha- karan when Boghossian was in the bank suggest he was using his and the ABC/Ali phones at the same time as the central co- ordinator in the scheme," wrote O'Marra. Criminal defence lawyer Marcy Segal says Boghossian, guilty or not, could face ques- tions from the Law Society of Upper Canada. "Even if you were a dupe, this type of fraud goes to the very heart of the legal profes- sion," she says. "One of the problems for Bog- hossian right off the start with the society is that he says he was acting on behalf of a client who wanted to purchase gold to hide it from his wife. That's not good in itself," she adds. "But what was very damag- ing, I think, was his varied de- scriptions [of Ali]. Precision is something lawyers need to have, so why was he so inconsistent in his descriptions?" Authorities have recovered none of the approximately 75 gold bars, and Det. Ruth Moran of the Toronto police financial crimes unit says they remain missing. "I suspect at one point they [the accused] knew where it all was. I don't know if they do now, but it's gone," she says of the gold, adding police have closed the in- vestigation into where it ended up as well as the probe to find the insider at the TD Bank. Apel says he and his client won't comment further before the appeal but he notes the loca- tion of the gold is just as much a mystery to them as to the court. "Nobody knows where it end- ed up. Maybe somebody knows, but my client does not," he says.LT might be applicable in Ontario." While many lawyers are welcoming the recom- mendation against majority ownership by non- lawyers, others expressed disappointment. "Lawyers like to think a certain way, we are trained a certain way, we have certain baggage so to speak in that a lot of traditional lawyers don't neces- sarily like to see change," says Nathalie Picard, own- er of ALT Divorce in Ottawa and a self-described proponent of alternative business structures. "It would be of great benefit to have the views of other professions to give new perspective," she adds. "It's healthier for clients; it's a holistic approach." Picard says that particularly for family law, a majority-share approach to alternative business structures would allow law firms like hers to offer a one-stop shop of services by professionals such as social workers, psychiatrists, and accountants to help clients with more than just the base legal assistance they need. But Gluckstein says he and other personal inju- ry lawyers worried a majority-share option would make Ontario firms too "focused on profit" rather than on access to legal services. "We would argue at this point the main moti- vators for ABS, like access, better technology, are not improved enough in the models being used already. We believe that these solutions are already amongst us," he says, adding options such as f lat fees for legal services can help improve access to le- gal services while corporate partnerships can help firms improve their technology. "Firms are already innovating, and we've found nothing supportive so far that ABS furthers this cause." While disappointed overall, Picard says she's happy the working group is open to some degree of non-lawyer ownership of law firms. "I'm happy they're willing to look at minority- share private ownership; it's a start," she says. "But we need to embrace change. We would like to see them take it further and look back into majority share. Unfortunately, it's a minority of lawyers that support this [majority non-lawyer ownership], but we see it as an opportunity for dif- ferent professions to work together to provide the best possible service for the client and to make it more affordable." But at Convocation last week, Bradley Wright said that while he was happy the idea of majority ownership for non-lawyers was off the table, he'd like to see the working group go further. "Retreat from majority share is a step in the right direction but it doesn't go far enough," he said. "ABS is not the way to go, and we should recon- stitute this working group to look at effective alter- natives to access." The working group studied four potential models for alternative business structures in its report. The first model would be for entities pro- viding legal services in which individuals or enti- ties not licensed by the law society could have up to 49-per-cent ownership while the second would have no limitations on outside ownership for those not licensed by the LSUC. The third model would allow for business enti- ties providing both legal and non-legal services — except those identified as posing a regulatory risk — in which individuals and entities not licensed by the society could have up to 49-per-cent owner- ship. The fourth option would allow for business entities providing both legal and non-legal ser- vices — except those identified as posing a regu- latory risk — in which individuals or entities not licensed by the law society could have unlimited ownership. "Based on its work to date, the working group does not propose to further examine any majority or controlling non-licensee ownership models for traditional law firms in Ontario," the report states. "Such non-licensee ownership levels do not ap- pear to be warranted based on current informa- tion when the potential benefits to such external ownership levels are weighted against the regula- tory risks and regulatory proportionality. How- ever, the working group will continue its mandate by exploring and assessing other potential ABS options." LT NEWS How the legal community in Ontario gets its NEWS To order your copy visit www.lawtimesnews.com or call 416.609.3800 or 1.800.387.5164 SUBSCRIBE TO LAW TIMES TODAY! Cutting-edge legal affairs, news and commentary for just 50 cents a day! Make time for Law Times and keep up with all the developments in Ontario's legal scene. SUBSCRIBE TODAY AND RECEIVE: t 40 issues a year covering Ontario's legal landscape t FREE Unlimited access to Law Times digital editions and digital edition archives t FREE Canadian Legal Newswire, a weekly e-newsletter from the editors of Law Times and Canadian Lawyer FREE Digital edition included! To order your copy Untitled-5 1 2015-09-23 2:24 PM Continued from page 1 ABS 'not the way to go' None of 75 gold bars recovered: detective Continued from page 1

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