Victims Of Alleged Condo Investment Scam Wind Up With $300K Parking Spots, Storage Spaces

In Toronto, Canada, The Toronto Star reports:

• Five Toronto-area residents face more than 100 fraud-related charges in an alleged real estate scam that sold parking spaces as condos to innocent investors, police say. Bankers, developers, a lawyer and real estate agents allegedly worked together to defraud TD Bank of $3.8 million in bogus mortgage loans. "I have never seen such a tight-knit and closed circuit," Det. Craig Ellis said. "The owners, the agents, the bank employees, the lawyers ... everybody that had anything to do with it: It was all baloney." The alleged scheme ran from 1998 to 2000. Police claim two brothers, Kam Cheung Chan and Patrick Chan, enticed their victims to invest in two condominiums. Police said the Chan brothers had victims fill out a mortgage application but didn't ask for any money up front, waiving the down payment. Bank employees who were allegedly in on the scam made sure the mortgage loans sailed through. Then the suspects kept the cash. The thieves were apparently selling parking and storage spaces, not condos, for about $300,000 each.

For more, see Parking spots sold as condos (Alleged fraudsters stole $3.8M from TD Bank; lawyer, bankers involved).