A Joliette real estate developer accused of attempted murder, Jean-François Malo, has orchestrated a massive scam that allowed him to make nearly $3.8 million disappear in Cambodia, a Supreme Court ruling has revealed.
Threats, false documents, scammers on the phone, an unknown foreign bank account: the facts described by Supreme Court Justice Bernard Synnott seem straight out of a script.
The judge ruled on May 19 in the civil lawsuits brought by two companies, which specifically targeted a notary from Laval. These two firms had agreed with Malo to entrust him with a total of nearly $7.2 million in 2019 and are attempting to recover the sum owed to them.
“There is ample evidence that over $3,769,276.25 in fraud was committed and that without the intervention of TD Bank employees, an additional amount of over $3,400,000 was transferred to an undisclosed bank account in Cambodia would have flowed,” the judge wrote in his 32-page decision.
“However, the bank could not recover the first amount that was fraudulently transferred there and which will in all likelihood remain lost forever,” he laments.
Our Bureau of Investigation is investigating this incredible matter today.
1. How to find $3.4 million?
In the fall of 2019, Jean-François Malo had to raise $3.4 million. He wants to avoid having his buildings confiscated by companies in the Desjardins group, who are suing him on the grounds that “he was the victim of multiple real estate scams by Malo and his group,” Judge Synnott explains.
The controversial promoter then managed to persuade the company Crédit Transit to lend him almost $3.8 million as a mortgage loan for his buildings. At the same time, he received $3.4 million from another company, Gestion Groupe Bernard (GGB), as a down payment for the sale of the same buildings.
“You should know that Malo is negotiating with each of the two companies without either of them knowing about it,” the judge explains.
2. A negligent notary
If the fraud could have happened, it’s thanks in part to the negligent Laval notary, Simon Chartrand, who has now been removed from his professional disposition list.
Photo from Simon Chartrand’s LinkedIn page
Simon Chartrand was removed from office by the Chamber of Notaries
Malo appoints Me Chartrand to act as trustee for $7.2 million provided by Crédit Transit and GGB.
On November 16, he was scammed over the phone by scammers posing as President of Credit Transit and GGB’s attorney.
“They tell him that they have come to an agreement. The deposit yields offered by Canadian banks are far too low and leaving their money there is out of the question. They have found a Cambodian financial institution willing to instantly manage their respective deposits and offer them much more attractive returns.”
“Notary Chartrand is not doing any additional verification and is proceeding with the transfer as he says he is going through a difficult time and suffered major water damage at his home.” [là où se trouve aussi son cabinet], his wife just left him for his best friend, he is depressed and Malo makes inappropriate comments about him. In short, he wants to get rid of this file and is not acting like a smart professional. On the contrary, he is negligent,” the judge wrote.
decency
We see here the message the scammers sent to Notary Chartrand to request funds to be transferred to Cambodia
decency
We see here the message the scammers sent to Notary Chartrand to request funds to be transferred to Cambodia
3. Almost $3.8 million sent to Cambodia
The notary therefore sends instructions to TD Bank to transfer an initial amount of US$3.8 million to the bank account of a company that was incorporated in Cambodia a few weeks earlier. This account is registered with Canada Bank, one of Cambodia’s leading financial institutions. TD fulfills this obligation and transfers the funds.
Photo from the Canada Tower Facebook page
Pictured here is Canadia Bank’s headquarters in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
4. Another $3.4 million transfer nearly avoided
A few days later, the notary requested that the remaining $3.4 million be transferred to Cambodia. On November 22, Nathalie Dinolfo, in charge of transfer compliance at TD, intervened and blocked the transaction. “TD Bank blocks the Chartrand notary’s account and the second transfer never takes place thanks to the very reasonable intervention of Ms. Dinolfo and the bank’s security service,” the judge writes.
5. Threats
In the meantime, notary Chartrand would have been the victim of threats. He told police that while he was driving his vehicle, a car blocked his path. “A shady person would have come out and said to him, ‘You can’t talk to anyone, don’t call you anywhere, we know where you live, we know where your husband lives,'” Judge Synnott recounts.
6. Fraudulent Scheme
Who is behind the plan? Judge Synnott is clear:
“Malo and the Malo Group are the perpetrators of the fraud: Malo is the only one who knows that he is dealing with the two parties without their knowledge and the only one who knows all the details of the two files,” he concludes.
At trial, Malo defended himself by claiming that he was actually the victim of a conspiracy, which the judge did not believe.
The Honorable Bernard Synnott describes one of his replies as a “far-fetched claim”, another of his justifications as fabrication, while a third claim made by Malo is deemed “incomprehensible” by the court.
Malo even asked the judge to withdraw from the court case, but this request was denied.
“Malo is ready to do or say anything and to lie if it benefits him,” the judge justified his decision.
7. Who pays?
Luckily for the lax notary who was tasked with watching over the money, it was the Chambre des Notaires du Québec’s Professional Liability Insurance Fund (FARPCNQ) that had to compensate the victims directly.
However, the FARPCNQ must in turn be compensated by Malo and his companies, who are “the perpetrators of the illegal activity,” the judge orders.
Malo and his companies also have to pay the insurance fund more than $43,000 in expert fees.
8. Charged with attempted murder
Even if the judge speaks of fraud and the production of false documents in his civil judgment, no criminal charges have yet been filed in the case of the millions of euros embezzled in Cambodia.
On the other hand, Jean-François Malo will have to appear in court in the coming months in connection with the gun attack of which one of the Desjardins Group lawyers was the victim in the civil action brought against him. He is specifically charged with attempted murder and has pleaded not guilty.
Photo filed in court
On April 24, 2020, security cameras caught Jean-François Malo and Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Ndiaye talking, less than a month after Nicholas Daudelin was attacked. Sheikh Ahmed Tidiane Ndiaye was sentenced to nine years in prison in this case, while Malo has not yet been brought to justice.
Desjardins’ lawsuit against Malo was settled out of court in June 2020 and the terms of the agreement are confidential.
9. The judge is wrong, says Malo
For his part, Jean-François Malo believes that “most of the paragraphs of the judgment in question are wrong at first glance” and that “Judge Synnott is mistaken when he confuses the dates,” according to a statement sent to the Journal by one of his Attorneys, Me Karl-Emmanuel Harrison.
For example, Malo mentions that the judge suspects he made a decision in the fall of 2019 after his arrest…in June 2020.
The two prosecutors representing Malo and all of his affiliates in this case have also written to tell us that their clients intend to appeal and that they are “confident of being able to show the Court of Appeals that Judge Synnott’s verdict.” “unfounded” is factual and legal”.