A lawsuit has been filed in Oshawa, Ontario, against a former detective of the Durham Regional Police, Robert Silipo, and five other defendants, seeking nearly $300,000. The lawsuit alleges that Silipo, while still a police officer, collected pre-construction home deposits totaling $299,440 from the plaintiffs, who believed they were engaging in legitimate real estate transactions in 2022. The plaintiffs claim Silipo was their primary contact for the home sales, facilitated the signing of agreements and mortgages, and later went missing with the deposits.
Text messages reviewed by CBC News reveal that Silipo arranged to meet two of the plaintiffs in a parking lot near the police station in Oshawa to exchange paperwork for the purchases. This location, adjacent to his workplace, may have provided the plaintiffs with a false sense of security regarding the legitimacy of the transactions due to Silipo’s position as a police officer, according to their lawyer, Alex Henderson.
Silipo, through his lawyer Domenic Saverino, denies any wrongdoing and asserts that he is also a victim in this matter. The allegations against Silipo have not been proven in court, and he has not faced any criminal charges to date.
The plaintiffs, misled by individuals claiming affiliation with a legitimate developer named Paradise Developments, thought they were buying pre-construction homes at discounted rates with favorable mortgage terms. However, it was later revealed that the company they dealt with, “Paradise Development Homes Limited,” had no association with the actual developer. Another defendant in the lawsuit, Moiz Kunwar, who faces charges related to fraud in connection with the deposit scheme, was involved in other similar transactions.
Kunwar, who has not responded to the recent lawsuit, has denied all fraud allegations in previous court filings. Silipo, in his defense statement, claims he acted as a mediator at Kunwar’s request and was not directly involved in the fraudulent activities. He has filed a crossclaim against the co-defendants, arguing that they should share any liability if he is found responsible for the plaintiffs’ losses.
Henderson disclosed that Silipo only provided Kunwar’s contact information to the plaintiffs after they raised concerns about the legitimacy of their agreements. Legal demand letters were sent to Kunwar, Silipo, and “Paradise Development Homes Limited” to recover the deposits. The legitimate Paradise Developments confirmed that the similarly named company falsely used their address and had no authority to sell their properties.
None of the plaintiffs have received their deposits back, causing significant emotional and financial distress, including one client who had intended to use the property for his ailing mother. The legal proceedings are ongoing, and the defendants’ roles in the alleged real estate scam are yet to be fully determined.