The Ontario Provincial Police says it will launch an investigation into the iPro Realty Ltd. scandal.
OPP spokesperson Erin Cranton confirmed the investigation to Real Estate Magazine in a statement on Tuesday evening.
“The OPP has been asked to investigate this matter. To protect the integrity of the investigation, we are unable to provide further details at this time,” she said.
Demands for action are getting louder after Ontario’s real estate regulator, Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO), said that iPro Realty co-founders Rui Alves and Fedele Colucci will not face charges, despite $10.5 million going missing from the brokerage’s trust accounts. The total amount missing is now $8 million, RECO has said.
iPro’s 17 offices shut down on Aug. 19, affecting 2,400 agents.
RECO’s board announced last week it had ordered an immediate freeze on iPro accounts, to “safeguard funds and secure business operations,” it said, while an independent audit into the matter by legal firm Dentons Canada LLP will begin immediately, according to a statement.
Ontario’s five largest Realtor boards have banded together in support of the Ford government’s decision to intervene in the review of the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) following the iPro Realty Ltd. investigation.
Toronto Regional Real Estate Board president Elechia Barry-Sproule, Cornerstone Association of Realtors chair Julie Sergie, Ottawa Real Estate Board president Paul Czan, OnePoint Association of Realtors president Bonnie Looby, and Central Lakes Association of Realtors president Christine Riley signed the statement calling for Ombudsman oversight of RECO.
Ontario Real Estate Association has also applauded the government’s increasing involvement in the situation.
Courtney Zwicker is a digital reporter and associate editor for REM. Based in Atlantic Canada, she has over a decade of experience covering daily business news.