Brampton man faces new criminal charges as over 40 homebuyers allege they were scammed out of deposits
A real estate fraud case that initially involved just a handful of GTA homebuyers has now ballooned into a wide-reaching legal scandal, with as many as 50 people claiming they were defrauded out of deposits for pre-construction homes.
CBC News reported this week that he man at the centre of the allegations, 28-year-old Moiz Kunwar of Brampton, is now facing additional criminal charges, new civil lawsuits, and a public warning from police.
Peel Regional Police say Kunwar allegedly accepted payments for homes in developments he had no legal affiliation with. Despite the properties being tied to legitimate builders, Kunwar is accused of collecting deposits under false pretenses, prompting criminal charges of fraud over $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime, charges that have now been laid on three separate occasions in 2024 and 2025.
The force's fraud bureau is continuing to investigate, warning that there may be more victims who have yet to come forward.
The news arrives amid a reported spike in real estate and mortgage fraud, as well as other allegations of improper and unethical behaviour in those spaces. Ontario's financial services watchdog, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA), has initiated enforcement action against scores of current and former mortgage agents and brokers over the past year.
According to CBC, Toronto-based lawyer Andrew Ballantyne, who represents seven plaintiffs already involved in a civil lawsuit against Kunwar, said the number of Kunwar's potential victims has grown significantly in recent weeks. Since initial media reports emerged in May, he says dozens of others have contacted his office.
“Many of them are everyday people who put down their life savings expecting to secure a home,” Ballantyne told the news outlet. “It just spread like wildfire.”
Altogether, the plaintiffs across three civil suits claim to have lost nearly $570,000. Ballantyne says most of the new clients he’s speaking with are pursuing similar claims in hopes of recovering their funds. In court filings, Kunwar has denied wrongdoing and stated he was merely a sales associate acting on behalf of others.
In an earlier response to CBC, Kunwar said he would defend himself against all allegations but declined to comment further while the matter is before the courts.
CBC Toronto began investigating Kunwar in 2022 after learning about a sales pitch offering below-market-rate pre-construction homes with unusually low mortgage rates. Several alleged victims said they paid deposits to Kunwar or his associates at a company called Paradise Development Homes Limited (PDHL).
That name closely resembles a legitimate developer, Paradise Developments Inc., which has clarified it has no ties to Kunwar or PDHL. In a prior statement, the licensed builder said Kunwar had no authority to sell its properties.
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According to Ballantyne, Kunwar continued to solicit deposits into 2024, often taking prospective buyers to the actual development sites and showing them specific units. In many cases, those homes were later completed and sold to unrelated buyers. Victims only realized they had been misled when their supposed closing dates passed with no legal claim to the property.
Ballantyne says many were repeatedly reassured by Kunwar during this period.
“Eventually that unit gets built, other people move in, and the original buyer is left asking, ‘What happened?’” he explained.
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