Motion filed to suspend lawyer who allegedly mishandled $15M in condo deposits
Posted August 25, 2014 5:08 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Law Society of Upper Canada has filed a motion to suspend a lawyer who represented a North York condo developer that allegedly skipped town with millions of condo buyers’ down payments.
The development follows a CityNews story on Friday about Centrust Development Group, which sold pre-construction units in 2010 to mostly Chinese families for two buildings at 5220 and 5254 Yonge St., north of Finch Avenue. But this summer, the buyers learned their money is missing and Centrust is nowhere to be found.
Meerai Cho was the Toronto real estate lawyer who was in charge of the deposits for the North York condo developer’s project called Centrium. She has declared bankruptcy and has refused to comment.
A motion by the Law Society of Upper Canada will be heard Tuesday on whether to suspend her license to practise law.
“There is reasonable grounds to believe that Meerai Cho has mishandled and lost approximately $14.9 million in deposit monies paid to her, in trust, by or on behalf of purchasers of condominium units in Centrium condominium project in North York by improperly paying those monies to her client,” the motion stated.
The law society further states that “there is significant risk” to the public if an order to suspend or restrict Cho’s licence to practise isn’t made.
Click here to read the motion.
