No Room For Doubt
The Law Society of Upper Canada Tribunal Hearing Division revoked an attorney’s license
We found that the Licensee engaged in professional misconduct. With respect to penalty, the fraud is very clear in this case. Mortgagees and purchasers lost more than $3 million. There is no room for doubt.
The Law Society of Upper Canada v. Abbott, 2017 ONCA 525 (CanLII), states very clearly at para. 22:
There is, as yet, no precedent for a lower penalty than licence revocation for a lawyer who has knowingly participated in mortgage fraud.
Ms. Grewal’s licence is revoked effective immediately. She is ordered to comply with the Guidelines for Former Lawyers Whose Licences Have Been Revoked or Who Have Been Permitted to Surrender Their Licences.
As to notice
The Licensee sent an e-mail dated November 22, 2014, to her former mentor indicating she was aware of “what exactly happened, after reading newspapers.”
In addition, the Law Society sent its Notice of Application by mail to the last known address on file with the Law Society, and it was not returned. The Request to Admit was sent to an e-mail on file with the Law Society, and it was not returned.
Based on the provisions of Rules 9 and 10, along with the Licensee’s admission in her e-mail of November 22, 2014, we conclude that the Licensee had both actual knowledge of the allegations in this matter and appropriate service of the documents.
The Star.com reported on the attorney’s travails.
One day she was working as a lawyer in an office plaza in Mississauga, handling millions of dollars of her clients’ mortgage funds in a trust account.
The next day she was gone — and so was $3.5 million.
Real estate lawyer Rita Grewal abandoned her office, her home and her clients in July, allegedly fleeing to India as a millionaire, according to the Law Society of Upper Canada.
She has not been heard from since. In a Law Society Tribunal Hearing last month her licence was urgently suspended to “protect the public.”
The law society filed a motion to the tribunal for Grewal’s licence to be suspended on Oct. 3, claiming it had reasonable grounds to believe she was involved in a “dishonest and fraudulent scheme” to swindle mortgage funds from her clients.
Grewal “mishandled, misapplied or misappropriated millions of dollars,” abandoned her law practice, failed to serve clients to the standard of a competent lawyer and was not cooperating with the law society’s investigation, according to the motion.
(Mike Frisch )