Dozens of charges have been laid against nine people in connection with a fraud investigation worth more than $30 million.
York Regional Police said they started looking into a company called AC Simmonds Group, owned by King City resident John Simmonds, in November 2014.
Officers and the Ontario Securities Commission said they received complaints from businesses, banks private investors alleging they had been defrauded by Simmonds and others.
In early 2014, a shell company called BLVD Holdings – one of 80 registered by the Simmonds Group – began the process of acquiring a food shipping company in York Region, police said.
The Simmonds Group was expected to purchase the food shipping company for $10 million from the original owner, who had been operating it for the past 45 years. Police alleged that when Simmonds took over BLVD Holdings, the system for maintaining financial records was replaced and the financial status of the company was misrepresented.
Simmonds and his co-accused systematically submitted fraudulent documentation from one of his many shell companies and business interests, police said. This was done to increase the value of the company in order to secure more money from lenders, creditors and investors, according to investigators.
During the five months that Simmonds had control of the food company, from April to August 2014, police said he funnelled large sums of money out of the existing business to himself, the co-accused and his shell companies.
The food company was eventually bankrupted, according to investigators. Police said they believe the current total fraud value is more than $30 million.
Officers arrested nine people who are now facing 42 charges, including fraud over $5,000, conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, using a forged document and laundering the proceeds of a crime.
Anyone with information about BLVD Holdings or AC Simmonds Group can contact the York Regional Police Major Fraud Unit at 1-866-876-5423.
