An elderly Ottawa man says he lost his life savings after investing in a real estate development firm accused of fraud.
Now 75-year-old Barry Stevens has to keep working just to make ends meet.
Stevens says when he invested $400,000 with Fortress Real Developments in 2012, all of his retirement savings, it all seemed legitimate.
“The eight-and-a-half percent interest rate was the big lure,” Stevens says. “I was presented with a number of potential high-rises in the Toronto and Calgary area that I could invest in with the promise that in three years I could make my money back.”
The investment was to build large multi-story apartment buildings and skyscrapers through a syndicated mortgage fund, where two or more people invest in one mortgage for one property. At first, Stevens was happy with his decision and said one of the funds brought in $20,000 in returns — according to statements.
“My wife and I went to claim one of the investments that as far as we were concerned had expired, we were told yes, and it should be available to you by mid-November,” Stevens says. “Then when I called to go and get it, they said, ‘Oh, didn’t you get our letter saying it’s all gone and the money’s not available?’ … of the $400,000 I had there , I got $12,000 back one year.”
Stevens says he lost everything.
In June, Fortress Real Development founders Jawad Rathore of Markham, Ont., and Vince Petrozza of Richmond Hill, Ont., were charged with fraud and kickbacks under the criminal code.
RCMP say the charges come after an investigation called Project Dynasty that began in 2016 when police received complaints related to the firm’s business activities.
“Specifically, allegations were received that the company fraudulently received investments in a syndicated mortgage investment scheme,” the RCMP said in a statement. “The founders of Fortress Real Developments are alleged to have engaged in fraud by orchestrating an ongoing scheme in which they failed to disclose the various risks to brokers and investors.”
The charges have not been proven in court. The company denies the allegations on its website.
Fortress Real Developments was the developer behind a now scrapped $180 million 388-unit skyscraper project in Winnipeg.
After retirement, Stevens must continue to work and says he will have to for the rest of his life. Last year, he was a part-time Uber driver until his car got into an accident that proved too expensive to repair. He currently works as a security guard in downtown Ottawa.
“It makes it hard to get up early like I do in the morning, five days a week, and I’m not getting any younger, but I don’t see any other way we can keep a roof over our heads,” he says, adding that all he wants for now, is to see a criminal conviction. “I hope that justice will be served to the several hundred or thousands of people who were affected as I was.”
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